


To Fight Alone

by ohmyguts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Aftercare, Bestiality, Blood, Bodily Fluids, Come Inflation, Deep throat, Double Penetration, Egg Laying, Eggpreg, Eggs, Embarrassment, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemas, Forced Ejaculation, Forced Prostitution, Gangbang, Graphic Description, Hallucinations, Humiliation, Hurt/Comfort, Knotting, Large Cock, Large Insertion, Mild Gore, Mind Break, Mind Manipulation, Monster Dick, Monsters, Mpreg, Near Death Experiences, Nightmares, Other, Oviposition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Public Humiliation, Public Sex, Rape Aftermath, Size Difference, Slime, Sounding, Tentacle Monsters, Tentacle Rape, Tentacles, The hentai of fanfics, Triple Penetration, Violence, Vomiting, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-03-23 19:12:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 63,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13794351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyguts/pseuds/ohmyguts
Summary: While exploring Altissia, Noctis meets an interesting man that promises to pay him some good Gil if he can take down every beast he has in a Totomostro arena setting. He didn't think it was necessary to warn Noctis that the beasts weren't looking to fight, rather they we're looking for something to breed.(It's a monster gangbang, because I'm horrible and I want it)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey heyyy, welcome back to another of my 'poor protag gets boned hard by a lot of monsters, has a terrible time' fics! Now we're gunna inflict some suffering upon poor Noctis! This is gunna be a multi-chap fic, but if you're here just for the porn (no judgement bruh) then don't worry there'll be a heads up when the fucking is done! (also if you follow me on tumblr then you already know what this is about ;3)
> 
> Edit: Ahh! also I forgot to mention spoilers for chapter 9 and beyond!

The streets of Altissia were beautiful in the evening, the sun set and reflected over the water’s surface creating a moment that seemed so peaceful it was like no war had ever happened. It was something Noctis would never forget about the beautiful waterfront city, and not just because Prompto insisted on taking photos of nearly every beautiful artefact they’d come by since they entered the city. 

The four of them had made their deal with First Secretary Claustra and had secured the right to complete the summoning ritual with Lunafreya as long as they assist in evacuations, which is exactly why they were stuck here for the next few days. Camelia Claustra had insisted that she have an adequate amount of time to ensure the safe and civil evacuation of everyone in the city before the ritual began, so until her preparations were complete Noctis could only wait.

Everyone was restless waiting around the hotel room all day, so they’d agreed, and Prompto insisted, that they go out and explore some more of the breathtaking city. They’d wondered under stairwells and over bridges until they’d found themselves at a market full of colourful stalls and vendors that would eagerly offer their products to you if you even looked their direction. It hadn’t taken long for everyone to find something of interest. Prompto had quickly scurried off, shouting that he had to capture the perfect picture without so much as glancing back at them. 

Noctis trailed around behind Gladio and Ignis until they came across a stand full of exotic ingredients and spices that had caught Ignis’ attention. He was having quite an in-depth discussion with the store owner about the best uses and combinations of the many different ingredients he’d never come across before. Gladio shoved Noct’s shoulder lightly and gave him a knowing grin before they snuck off without Ignis even realizing. They only got so far down the stretch of stalls before a man with an assortment of shields caught Gladio’s eye. 

“You have fun, I’m gunna keep walking” Noctis said, not waiting for much of a response from Gladio apart from a brisk nod as he eyed off the varying shields.

“Don’t get lost” Gladio said with a nod, preparing himself more for the line of questions he had for the storekeeper about the craftsmanship of the shields.

Noctis wandered off through the busy market street, there were plenty of stands surrounding him, but he’s not really in the mood to shop right now. His nerves are wound tight knowing that Luna is here, but he can’t see her. Not until after the ritual is complete. Honestly, he was content to continue lazing around their hotel room until Secretary Claustra finished her preparations, but he knew the others didn’t want to sit around and watch him nap all day, so he agreed to go out. 

He was eyeing off a stand that had an array of baked pastries and cakes laid out on display, thinking about how he should ask Ignis to make some dessert when they get back to their hotel room. It’d certainly been a while since they’d had something sweet and Noctis was sure there would be plenty of ingredients around in the busy town. He continued off on his slow walk, taking in the sights. 

However, when he felt the presence of another man stepping in sync with him, almost immediately behind him he became wary. No one would be stupid enough to attack him in the middle of Altissia, right? He picks up the pace just the smallest amount, to see if this person is really trying to follow him, or if he’s being paranoid. 

The steps continue and actually pick up even faster, so much faster that suddenly there’s a hand on Noctis’ shoulder tugging at him to face the stranger. His face was pulled into an annoyed scowl, ready to shove off whoever had grabbed him, but was surprised to see a seemingly normal man smiling at him when he spun around.

“Hey!” the man beams at him. He doesn’t seem threatening, just like anyone else enjoying the market. That still doesn’t explain why he had grabbed Noctis.

“...Can I help you?” Noct asks hesitantly, giving the man a curious look.

“I just thought you looked like a hunter, you’re new to Altissia, right?” he asks with the same friendly grin, finally lowering his hand from Noct’s shoulder.

“...Yeah. Just arrived recently, only here for a few days though” Noct admits quietly, he doesn’t see anything dangerous about the man, but he’s trying to be careful anyway. 

“Well, not a whole lot of hunting to do inside the city, but if you’re looking to earn some extra Gil and let off some steam I know a place.”

Ah, that’s what he wants, to sell me something, Noctis concludes. He shrugs his shoulders casually, relaxing a little now that he’s decided the stranger isn’t a well disguised Niflheim soldier. 

“No thanks, just here to take in the sights” Noctis says, turning to keep walking the direction he was headed before he was stopped. The stranger must be desperate because he falls in step alongside Noctis.

“You sure? It’s a fast way to get rich, and a hell of a lot of fun too” He says with a wink, “You heard of the Totomostro? Same principle, except you get to take down the beasts yourself. I’m sure you’ve taken out bigger creatures for a lot less than what I’m offering.”

Wow, really desperate, Noctis thinks at the man’s continued sales pitch. 

“And what is it you’re offering?” Noctis says with an unimpressed grin, humouring the poor guy for a little longer.

“40,000 Gil if you can take down every beast we got” the man says with a sly grin. 

Noctis actually stops for a second to give the man a surprised look, that’s a lot of Gil for what sounded like a fairly simple hunting request. Even if Noctis knew they had Gil to spare, he also knew that they still needed to pay for food, accommodation, petrol, curatives, weapon maintenance, and a million other smalls things that ended racking up their overall expenses. Even Cindy could only give them so much of a discount. 

“Just for killing some beasts?” Noctis asks sceptically. 

“Well, more like putting on a show, but yeah, that’s the long and short of it” he nods at Noctis and quirks his eyebrow at him, “So, you in?”

Noctis hesitates, he’s not sure this is a good idea, especially since Ignis had insisted they try to keep a low profile while in the city. However, he also can’t deny that the money would be useful, and they could always use the practice when it comes to fighting beasts. And really, this guy doesn’t seem all that harmless. If worse comes to worse, Noctis is sure he could just kick his ass and leave. 

“Alright. I’m in” Noctis nods, and once again the guy’s arm is on him, this time grabbing around his shoulder, so they can walk side by side together. 

“Excellent! Knew you looked like a tough kid!” the man laughs as they walk. Noctis hesitantly lets him lead the way through the crowds and streets. He glances behind him quickly when they reach the edge of the market, worried about leaving without telling the other, but the man keeps moving. Soon, they arrive at a wide, barred door where another man is waiting outside, Noctis can only guess it’s some back entrance into the Totomostro arena.

“You the new fighter, kid?” the second man asks, he’s leaning against the stone wall eyeing him up at down. Noctis really didn’t appreciate these two strangers calling him a kid, who the hell do they think they are.

“I guess so” Noctis shrugs.

“You look sorta familiar…” the new man says, he tilts his head sideways and squints at Noct a bit.

“Don’t be ridiculous, this is his first time in Altissia, ain’t it kid?” the first man says with a light shove to his shoulder. 

“Y-yeah, first time” Noctis stutters, that’s the last thing he needs right now. To be recognized as the Prince of Insomnia in a city run by Nifelheim with some possibly sketchy looking guys with him. 

“See? Not a problem” the man says again as he pulls open the heavy wooden doors and ushers Noctis and the new stranger inside.

The room is dark and cold when they walk in. It looks pretty unkempt; boxes and junk are piled high in the corners of the room. There’s only a single dingy looking couch against the wall that looks like it’s never been cleaned, and yet it’s the only real item of furniture in the room apart from a table buried under junk. Along one wall is an array of weapons, none being all too impressive. In fact, most of them seem either broken or caked in dirt. It’s like they found someone’s old weapon and just decided to keep it.

“You’re welcome to use any of the weapons we have” the second man says as he sees Noctis eyeing off the wall, “or you can use your own weapons, if you have any.”

Noctis just nods, eyes trailing around the room. He’s really starting to question why he’s here now. He didn’t even get the chance to tell anyone where he was going, he hopes they won’t be angry if he comes home late, but he can already hear Gladio yelling at him for running off. Damn.

“These gates will open in about ten minutes, when they do that’s your cue to go out there and fight. The longer you last, the more money you’ll earn, easy as that. Try not to die as well” and that was all the advice he was given before the two men walked through another doorway and up some winding stairs.

He walks around the dark room, looking at various oddities that litter the ground. Strange things like odd pairs of shoes and a pile of dirty clothes, a box filled with potions, antidotes, and every other curative you could buy. There is also a large amount of beast artefacts that also fill the spaces in the room like bones, teeth, antlers, and animal skins. Though considering this is an arena to fight beasts that isn’t the most surprising thing, despite how disturbing it is. 

Soon, Noctis can hear the sound of loud voices in the distance followed by some cheering and clapping. He suspects that means the fight is about to begin and when the gate starts to creak open slowly he steels himself, readying for a fight. He’s fought plenty of beasts and daemons at this point, but this is the first time he’ll be doing so completely alone. If Gladio was here he’d growl at him to use his head and not get cocky, that’s how idiots die. 

The light is blinding when he steps into the arena, purely because he’s been wondering around a dark room for the past ten minutes. It takes him a moment to squint through the brightness before his eyes adjust. He can only just make out the blurs of crowds sitting high above him, staring down into the dirt covered pit where he waits. 

“-Our Champion!” the voice calls out more clearly now that he’s standing in the arena, “and his first fight is against a reapertail!” 

Just one? Noctis thinks as the opposing gate starts to open as well. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

The gate groans and creaks as it opens, slowly getting higher. Noctis can hear the scuttling of hard sharp legs on the floor and heavy pincers swinging about violently. Whatever they’ve been doing to these creatures beforehand has clearly wound them up enough, but that’s expected for a fight.

The reapertail scuttles in suddenly when the gate is open, and then visibly flinches away from the light when it’s out in the arena. It scurries backwards into the wall briefly before moving sideways more. Noctis summons his engine blade in his hand and watches the reapertail’s confused movements. He shifts his footing slightly, barely a conscious move, but as soon as he does the beasts whole body shifts towards him as if it’s just realised he was standing there. 

This time Noctis does ready himself, bending his knees and stepping wider to prepare himself to quickly evade an attack. The reapertail moves quickly, pincers out in front as it charges him. Just before it reaches him, Noctis warp steps to the side, avoiding the pincer that comes launching towards him. There’s a sudden uproar from the audience when he warps again behind the creature and drives his sword right through it’s hard exoskeleton.

“What!? I-it appears out champion is no ordinary one! What an interesting turn of events!” the voice calls out, amplified through speakers.

“Fuck.”

Okay, so Noctis hadn’t really ever got a hang of the whole ‘undercover’ thing, and it had been much easier when they were travelling through the empty stretches of land outside of Insomnia. Now within a densely populated city, that had also been spouting news about the engagement and eventual wedding between Lunafreya and Noctis, and the attack on Insomnia, it should’ve been much harder to forget their mission. And it wasn’t like the King’s magic was a secret or anything. Especially not when he was freaking warping in front of them. 

The reapertail grabs his attention again by swinging it’s pointed stinger at him, Noctis just putting his blade up in time to block it before warp stepping to the other side and thrusting his sword into its hardened body. It makes a high warbling sound, almost like a scream, before it's many limbs flail out again reaching for Noctis. He steps and avoids each rapid movement with only some small amount of effort before he swings his arms down and buries the sword almost down to the hilt inside the beast’s head. It flops to the ground with a dying screech, pincers and tail hitting the ground with a thud. 

The crowd riles up at the action again, a mixed sound of applause and words chanted, merging together into noise. The only understandable sounds are that of the announcer again, voice loudly projected over the crowd.

“Round one goes to our champion! Sorry to all the reapertail supporters, better luck next round!” the voice calls out, it sounds so fake and overemphasised Noctis winces just at the sound of it, “Which speaking of, here comes out next beast! A Dualhorn!” 

Noctis huffs, but readies himself anyway, turning to face the gates again as the open. The dualhorn is clearly agitated when it shoves its way into the arena, feet stomping around and head thrashing side to side. It doesn’t charge Noctis immediately, which he thinks is surprising, but paces the walls of the arena like it's watching him. When it finally does charge, Noctis is ready, warping out of the way as it’s horns slam into the wall, leaving a hefty crack in the stone.

Noctis takes the opportunity to deal some damage while it recovers its horns from the wall. With broadsword in hand it doesn’t take long for the beast to fall to its side with a howl.

The crowd screams and the announcer calls out for a new beast. A gaiatoad, then a seadevil, a naga, a cockatrice, a swarm of killer bees, an arba and more are all sent to Noctis one after the other without break or assistance. His legs wobble as he lands from his last warp, magic exhausted by the never-ending fights. He underestimated how difficult it would be to fight with no place to hide and recover and no one to help him when he falls. The few potions he did have with him had all been used up by now and he was begging for the next fight to be his last. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer, he could barely keep his blade summoned in his hand as he shook, waiting for the announcer again.

“Once again, the champion takes the round! What impressive stamina! Why don’t we amp up the difficulty a little?!” and Noctis groans at the sound of that, he can’t be serious, “This time, a behemoth!”

The noise the crowd makes is almost enough to knock Noctis over alone. He wobbles again at the announcement for the next beast and is suddenly all too aware of the loud rumbling and growling coming from behind the gates. He swears he can almost feel them shaking the ground, but that can’t be possible.

The gates open much too fast in Noctis’ opinion, and he has barely a second to prepare himself before the behemoth leaps into the arena with a deafening roar. The hair stands up on the back of his neck just at the sheer force behind the call, let alone looking at the beast face to face. Not that they were even remotely close to each other in height.

The beast’s chest echoed in a low rumble out, growling endlessly as it prowled forward. It had been a long time since Noctis had fought a behemoth and it hadn’t been easy then, and he’d been well prepared and had Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus to help him then. This behemoth isn’t quite as large as the first he’d seen, but that really doesn’t make much of a difference when it still towers over him so aggressively. It’s sharp clawed feet pad through the dust as it watches Noctis, almost like it’s studying him. 

Noctis has to summon his sword again, it had already disappeared in his distracted state and in the split second it takes the blade to appear in his hand the beast moves. It pounds forward reaching Noctis in only a few strides of its powerful limbs. Noctis doesn’t even try to warp, he scrambles at the dirty floor, feet kicking up dust as he runs to avoid the attack. He only just manages to get out of its reach by jumping forward and rolling across the floor gracelessly. 

It leaves him open for too long and the behemoth is behind him all too suddenly, sharp teeth all too visible for Noctis. Its paw rises above Noctis and this time he does try to warp out of the way, knowing he won’t be able to move fast enough. His magic is so exhausted he only warps a few feet ahead of the behemoth before he’s hurrying to get back on his feet. His weapon long since disappeared, he’s too focused on not being ripped apart to worry about attacking the creature.

He starts to run again, feet scuffling against the floor as he tries to get away from the behemoth. His thoughts are screaming at him that there is nowhere to run, that they’re trapped together in this arena for a reason. The behemoth bounds behind him, quickly gaining on him, it’s paw raises and Noctis tries with all his might to warp out of the way, but he just barely blinks in and out and lands in almost the exact same spot. 

The paw hits him with an almost unbelievable force, he hits the floor with a hard yell. The beast finally has him, foot pushing his body hard into the ground and knocking all the wind out of him. He wheezes desperately as the weight of the behemoth pushes him harder into the ground. Noctis tries to wriggle out from underneath it, arms and legs scrambling against the dirt, but the weight is too strong, and he’s already exhausted his magic for now. He won’t be able to warp until it recovers. He’s trapped.

He can feel the rumbling vibrate through the behemoths body and against him. It’s crushing him, he feels like all his ribs will break under the pressure. He curses under his breath, he should’ve known better, shouldn’t have trusted some strangers on the street promising him money in some underground cock fight. Now he was going to get eaten by a stupid behemoth and ruin everything. How the hell is he meant to be king if he still makes decisions like this?

He feels the hot breath on his back get stronger and the smell of rancid meat growing as the beast’s head lowers closer to him, the strength of its breaths rustling his hair in its breeze. It takes long deep sniffs near him and this has to be it, it’s going to rip his head off and eat him now.

Noctis summons a dagger and twists as best as he can to thrust it into the ankle that’s crushing him, which only succeeds in making the behemoth growl down at him harder and push him back down into the floor. He feels a sharp stab of pain and a sickening pop as the paw presses down on him with his shoulders twisted to the side. He screams out in agony at the feeling, fuck, it has to be broken, something is broken his mind is shouting at him as the searing pain shoots down his left arm and up into his neck. 

His head drops uselessly onto the ground as he gasps through the pain, unmoving as the behemoth huffs angrily above him. 

“P-please! Help me!” he calls out. They can’t seriously let this beast kill him, can they?

There is no response beyond the continued hollering of the crowd and the announcer’s enthusiastic descriptions of Noctis’ failure. No one is coming to save him.

Suddenly, there’s the feeling of claws pawing at his back followed by the sound of ripping fabric and claws dragging through flesh. He yells out again, whimpering pathetically in pain. He can feel the back of his jacket and pants get shredded by the behemoth’s razor-sharp claws, exposing the skin underneath it. He can feel the beads of blood drip from the edges of a particularly painful cut along his lower back. 

Everything hurts so badly right now, Noctis begs, pleads, and prays that someone will help him. That Gladio or Ignis or Prompto will come running to his defence any second now and help him. But they aren’t here.

Something horribly hot and wet slides up from his ass to his back and makes him shout and flinch at the feeling. He tries to turn his head to look only to feel the stabbing pain of his shoulder grow worse, but from what he could tell he guesses that was the beasts tongue. Can’t believe I’m gunna die getting eaten by a behemoth, he thinks. He wants to run, wants to escape, but he doesn’t know how. He couldn’t fight this beast before, and now it has him pinned and injured, he hasn’t got a chance.

Something hard slides against his back and pushes him forward, forcing his hips to raise and his back to arch uncomfortably against the beast’s forearm. This time whatever it is pushes against him harder, right against his ass which makes him jump and an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp comes from his throat. What the fuck is happening? Why isn’t it eating me? What’s it doing? Noctis thinks in a panicked rush, he has no clue what’s happening anymore, but he knows he wants it to stop. 

Something keeps prodding against his ass and he can feel that it’s hot and sticky, makes his face scrunch up in disgust at the sensation. When it finally pushes his cheeks apart and slides between them, rutting harder against him he starts to yell frantically. 

“H-hey! What the fuck is going on!?” Noctis shouts loudly into the arena, “Fucking stop! Get off me!”

The behemoth only growls in response as the crowd continues to cheer. Noctis feels it shove against him hard again, slick with saliva and something else that’s sticky against his skin. There’s a deep rumble in the beast’s chest before Noctis distinctly feels the same hard thing press right against his hole, like it was trying to force inside him. His eyes widen in horror and he tries his hardest to break out of the beast’s grasp, ignoring the screaming pain in his arm to throw his body around frantically trying to shove the creature off him. 

Somehow, as the behemoth keeps pushing against him harder and harder, feeling himself being crushed under the weight of it and shoved forcefully into the ground, he feels that hard thing pushing so forcefully against him that his body has no choice but to open around it painfully. It’s huge, he can’t even see it, but he knows it’s too big for him, for anyone. Just it rubbing against his ass has him panicking at the length and girth of the beast. It feels as big as one of his own thighs.

“No, no no no no no” Noctis wails quietly, shaking his head as he feels a new sharp pain, this time shooting down his spine and into his hips as the behemoth’s dick forces its way inside him. 

It’s too big, I’ve never done this before, it won’t fit! But the beast pushes on until it finally manages to squeeze a few inches inside him, making Noctis scream out at the sudden stretch. 

“F-FUCK! ST- STOP!!” Noctis screams again, eyes squeezed shut as the burning grows worse and the pressure becomes unbearable. His hips shake and buck, trying desperately to get away from the painful intrusion.

The behemoth keeps pushing more of its length into him and Noctis’ body has no choice but to open up to take it, even with the way his skin burns and stretches so tightly he feels like he’s going to split in half. Noctis can only just hear the crowd through his ringing ears as his head throbs. He’s trying to pull as much air as he can into his crushed lungs as the pain gets worse. He can feel the hot member forcing its way deeper inside of him, making everything inside stretch to accommodate to its size.

Noctis’ breath comes in short fast pants, the pain that sears all through his body is making it hard to focus, even if the only thing he can really focus on at the moment is the growing girth of the behemoth’s dick as it continues to force him open. It feels like it’s going deeper than anything should ever be able to, he’s not sure where it’s finding the room inside him to keep shoving in more of its length when it already feels like it’s crushing all of his guts, but somehow it does.

Suddenly, there’s an even worse tugging sensation inside him. The behemoth is pulling its dick out of Noctis, but it feels more like it's trying to rip out his guts. His hole is stretched so tightly around it's dick that when it tries to pull out he can feel it tugging even more at the skin, making it tear horribly as Noctis let’s out another ear-splitting scream.

It pulls back so far, but somehow Noctis still feels so much inside him and before he can even try to catch his breath the beast is sliding back into him slowly. Noctis gags at the returning pressure on his organs, and somehow it feels like the behemoth managed to force more of itself inside Noctis. The returning feeling of his stomach being crushed forces his whole throat and chest to clench as another wet gag escapes him. 

Another, harder thrust has Noctis’ whole body flinching as he feels his stomach emptying itself, half-digested food and stomach acid being quickly forced back up his throat until he’s choking and gagging on it. He throws up all over the floor by his head, every bit of Ignis’ cooking coming back up in a disgusting and painful way. Involuntary tears slide down his face as more and more hot vomit is forced up his throat and onto the floor. It’s hard to believe that food that had tasted so good could become so disgusting only a few hours later.

Noctis whines again, still spitting up the remaining vomit, bile and saliva that pools in his mouth all while the behemoth’s cock still drags through his insides horribly. It seems to have figured out a rhythm now and is thrusting into him again and again making his whole body shake with each violent thrust. It hurts so badly Noctis can barely feel his legs anymore, he’s convinced himself they wouldn’t work even if he tried to move them. 

He’s lost the energy and willpower to fight back against the massive beast that has so clearly taken control of him, and the excruciating pain in his shoulder and hips is reminder enough of how badly he’d fucked up. He lets the behemoth fuck into him harder and deeper as it goes, only reacting with his cries and screams that are forced out of him with every pounding thrust.

The beast rumbles deeply above him and with a thrust so hard that Noctis can feel it slamming into his spine, leaving a stabbing pain shooting through his nerves, it cums inside him. He grits his teeth at the feeling of thick cum flooding his insides, the burst is strong and feels unending as more and more of it is forced inside him. He can feel it already trying to leak out of him, but the behemoth’s dick is so wide that it keeps it trapped inside him as it continues to fill him. The feeling is making Noctis gag and cough again, acidic taste building in the back of his throat again. 

Finally, the behemoth pulls out again, tugging at Noctis’ inside cruelly and allowing an embarrassingly large amount of cum to spill out of his gaping hole and down his thighs. It pools in a sticky mess on the floor between his legs. The beast also removes its paw from his back, allowing his body to slump to the side in a crumpled, well-fucked pile. His whole body shakes with his ragged breathing and he sobs quietly as the behemoth turns around and stomps back to the gates it came from, leaving Noctis a defeated corpse on the ground.

“What a fight that was!” the announcer’s voice calls out again, louder now that it isn’t being drowned out by the sounds of a behemoth’s roar or Noctis’ screams. “An almost crushing defeat, but it looks like out champion has survived another round! Which means, despite this round going to the behemoth, we have another beast ready to go! How about something sweet and soft this time, like a flan!!”

A long drawn out whine is all Noctis can manage when he hears the gates being pulled open again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy y'all, hope you don't mind the wait for this fic but I'm trying to make it so I only post on weekends/end of the week now so that I'm not like ignoring my real life jobs just to write fanfics, y'know? so hopefully it's not so bad, and it should be nice to have a more scheduled update system instead of just 'as soon as the chapters done or asap' but yeah! Chapter 2 and Noctis is already struggling, let's see how well he can hold out!!

The gates clunk when they finally open and there’s a wet, sloshing sound that rolls across the ground. Noctis takes one look at the blue mass of slime squelching towards him and he quickly tries to drag himself away with his one good arm. His legs are completely numb and useless, and his left arm hangs limply by his side. He can see that something's wrong with it by how it hangs loosely by his side, unresponsive with every painful attempt to move it. He can’t even try to tuck it closer to his body to prevent it from flopping around uselessly without using his other hand, which is too busy digging through the dirt to escape the approaching goo monster.

“W-wait! I can’t- I can’t fight! You have to stop this! Please!” Noctis pleads, and if Gladio had been here he’d probably be ashamed of seeing Noctis stoop as low to beg for help. A King should never beg or bow for anyone. Except at the moment Noctis doesn’t feel like a king. He felt like an idiot that had made a terrible mistake and would do anything to fix it right now, and that includes begging. 

“What’s this? Our champion wants to give up? Aww” the announcer calls, and the following sad sighs from the audience is both disgusting and relieving. They’ve finally heard him, now this can be over. “Except, you agreed to either defeat all the beasts here, or die trying, so until we run out of beasts you’ll just have to keep going!”

Noctis’ stomach just about drops right out of his body it falls so heavily. Defeat everything or spend the evening being a beast’s plaything. Victory or death. That’s what he said, without an inch of remorse or pity in his voice. He didn’t care if Noctis lived or died, as long as people kept betting and the show remained entertaining. That’s what he’d said wasn’t it, Noctis was there to put on a show. That’s all that mattered.

The flan keeps approaching him at its slug-like pace, but the threat is still there even if it’s not a looming muscular beast like the behemoth. He still knows what it wants from him, and that with his busted arm and still exhausted magic that he’s defenceless. He has to get away, somehow. He drags himself slowly through the dirt, feeling more cum dribble out of his hole and blood drying on his skin.

He doesn’t get far, unsurprisingly, and the flan catches up to him even with its slow movement. He can feel it’s wet, slimy body encase one of his feet and start crawling up his leg while it takes his other foot as well. He can’t even kick against it to try and protect himself, all he can do is let out a fearful sob as he feels the cold slime cover the exposed skin of his thighs, slowly making its way up his body. 

“L-let go! Get off- get the f- fuck off me!” He tries to sound threatening, but the wobble to his voice takes away any strength he was pretending to still have, and even then, he’s not even sure if the flan can hear him. Do they have ears?

His breath hitches when he feels the cool touch reach his ass, sliding to cover all of him, rubbing against the over-sensitive skin. He’s still gaping wide open from the behemoth’s massive cock and the flan is so watery smooth that it slides in with no resistance, slowly filling him. It takes its time, slowly pooling into his body, like a thick gel filling him. It continues its gratingly slow climb up his body while he still tries feebly to crawl away, making no progress at all. The flan slides over the deep gashes along his back, ripping a shout from his hoarse throat. 

What he doesn’t expect it to do is to slide inside the deep cuts just like it had his hole, filling them out and stretching the skin open more, making fresh blood pool against the slime. He screams out loud and hard as it wriggles inside him in so many different and unpleasant ways. It's still pushing itself deeper into his hole, growing and shrinking inside him almost like flowing water, and now it was sliding into his wounds.

“Ff- fuck! Sto- op!” he chokes out through the pain.

With the flan’s fluid body, it all too easily manages to slide under Noctis’ body even where he’s pressed to the floor to support his lower half inside of itself. The feeling of something not-quite water and not-quite solid surrounding him is so strange and unpleasant he doesn’t know how to react. It coils itself around his dick, wetness constricting it in a painful way making him squirm. 

The flan has reached his underarms now in its slow takeover of Noctis’ body. It’s just starting to encase his arms when a thick flow of it directly under his stomach forces him up on his knees. He wouldn’t have been able to hold the position in his current state, but with the flans body covering almost all of him, he’s forced upright in a kneeling position. 

Now, with his body upright he can feel the weight of gravity pushing down on him slightly, allowing even more of the flan’s thick, gooey body to slide inside him, dragging a long whine out of him. He can feel it slip so deep inside him that it somehow manages to exceed that of the behemoth, and when it hits his stomach he lurches hard at the sensation of something reaching all the way through his guts.

Then it starts to pool inside him more, forcing more and more of itself into his already ruined insides, filling it to what the behemoth had stretched it too and then beyond that. When he looked down he could see how the slime made his stomach protrude obscenely, heavy and round and clearly visible through his tattered clothes. His breathing is shaky at best and hyperventilating at worst. Please, stop, no more he wants to wheeze out, but he can only manage a sick moan and a sob.

A different sensation makes him jump. A squeeze against his balls and then something pressing against the tip of his cock. The flan is pushing a thin line of slime into the slit of his dick, and the sensation is immediately uncomfortable. It’s somewhere he never even thought something could go into, and now the flan was forcing itself inside him all over again. It seemed like the flan wasn’t intelligent enough to actually know which hole to use, so it just filled any opening it could find. He thinks he can even feel it experimentally pushing against his belly button, and with how full he currently is with the flan’s body, it only brings on a new wave of nausea.

With the many overwhelming sensations happening all at once, it was only then that he realised that the flan had reached his face in its journey to consume his whole body. Everything from below his chin was already suspended in the transparent blue slime. He grits his teeth and tries to keep his mouth shut as it slides further up his face. It covers his mouth like a wet sponge muffling him. As soon as it finds the part of his lips it pushes against them, surprisingly hard for something with no bones or muscle. 

His lips are soon forced open and the slime pushes its way in, making Noctis quickly loosen his clenched jaw to foolishly gasp at the sudden rush of slime into his mouth. It’s bitter and disgusting, heavy on his tongue and rolling back and forth like it's stroking him somehow. 

It doesn’t take it long to find the back of his throat either, sliding down against his already strained throat like a thick mucus. He coughs and chokes around the flan as it keeps going deeper inside and then it settles in his stomach, meeting up with the other half of itself that had worked its way up through his hole. He was filled to the brim with the flan, all the way through his guts, it packed itself into every crevice and space inside him and stretched him wide and open in ways the behemoth never could. 

His cheeks were flushed red with exertion and embarrassment as the entire crowd cheered on the flan that violated every inch of his body. With the way the flan held him and how it’s body was so transparent, he knew everyone in the arena had a clear view of what it was doing to him. At least with the behemoth, it’s large body was enough that it shielded him from some of the audience, even if they all knew what was really happening. Tears spilled over the sides of his eyes as he struggled to breath around the squishy monster inside him.

For some reason he assumed that this would be as far as the flan dared to go, but he was wrong. It finally slid over the rest of his face, encasing his entire body within its slimy grasp. He was already struggling to breath with the monster shoved so deep inside him, but now it was impossible, it’s watery body blocked out all the air and noise around him. Everything went eerily quiet when the flan closed itself around him. He could feel it's whole body pulsing with life around him, moving like a body of water. If it wasn’t for the immediate fear of suffocating and the heavy feeling that dragged all through his body, he might’ve felt at peace in this moment.

However, he felt the complete opposite of peace as he could feel the flan surge around him. It continued on with it's horrible stupidity and need to fill any available hole it could find, and now Noctis could feel it forcing its way into his nose and ears. He tried to shake his head, but the flan slowed his movements so strongly that it was like he wasn’t even moving. It crammed itself into his nose, which pushed at the bones of his face painfully. The feeling of it sliding through the back of his nose and into his throat made his body seize violently, though you could barely tell how he was trying to thrash through the slime. 

The feeling of it nudging into his ears was so unbearably wrong, a sensation that just felt as horrible and unnecessary as it sounded. It felt like the thick slime was heavy wax blocking out his ears uncomfortably, deafening him to the already silenced world surrounding him. It made Noctis thankful that he’d closed his eyes when the flan took him, hopefully ensuring that it wouldn’t try force it's way beneath his eyelids as well. He can’t imagine the kind of pain that would cause.

The rocking sensation only continues, pushing and pulling his body through the heavy slime. He can feel it moving all around his body and inside of it, a horrifying and confusing feeling to have the one continuous motion moving around his whole form, inside and out. He can’t see himself anymore, but he can feel the slime trying to squeeze more of itself down his throat and into his ass, pushing his limits to the extreme. His belly was hugely distended before, and it’s probably only worse now, the only indication he has to clarify that is the horrible ache of his skin and guts, and the ever-present nausea. Which even if he wanted to throw up he wouldn’t be able to with the thick tentacles of slime blocking up his throat.

His head is swimming and he feels himself getting even more lightheaded and his body starts to involuntarily jerk at the lack of oxygen. His pulse beats in his deafened ears. He knows he won’t stay conscious for much longer if he can’t breathe, but there’s little he can do about that as the flan continues its fluid movements. He feels his mind slipping and is only vaguely aware when there’s what feels like a surge of more slime pushed into every hole the flan occupied, thinner and more like a liquid than the flan itself. 

Then finally, he feels it starting to retreat. It pulls itself off his body, starting with his head thankfully, sliding out of his ears and then his nose, leaving a thick mucus coating as it goes. Slime dribbles out from every place it violated. It hurts when it starts to pull itself up and out of his throat, having pushed so much of slime inside him in the first place, but it finally clears his throat with a wet squelch. He gasps in a much-needed breath before a fit of coughing overtakes him, head swaying dizzily around as he coughs up blue slime down his chin and chest. He continues coughing and dragging in gasped breaths as spit drools from his slack jawed mouth. 

He can still feel the goo weighing his body down heavily, and it feels like there’s a thick coating of slime all through his mouth, nose and throat. He can feel the it is sliding down his skin from everywhere the flan touched. With his head finally free he’s able to look down at his body again, blinking a few times to remove the slime sticking his eyelashes together. Holy crap, his stomach is huge. Round and taught and looking like, he loathes to admit it but, a very pregnant person. 

It keeps freeing him from its sticky body, releasing his arms and sliding away from his chest. When it pulls itself from the cuts in his back he lets out a garbled shout. There’s a wet squishing noise and stabbing pain as the wounds are left open again, bleeding freshly all over. 

Then it pulls out from his dick, making his face scrunch in disgust and his spine shiver at the feeling, almost like he’s peeing but thicker. Wrong. All that is left is the heavy weight that still bloats his stomach out, making his hips shake and his stomach hurt. There’s a distinct shift when he feels it dislodge itself from his guts, pulling out roughly and with little consideration for the damage it's done. Worst of all he can feel that there’s still a considerable amount of slime coating his insides and filling out his stomach despite the slimes retreat. 

It's drags itself out, winding back through his intestines until it tugs against his hole, finally coming out with a slight pop. Suddenly it's cold, wet body is gone and Noctis supports himself in the same kneeling position for all of three seconds before falling forward, face down on the ground. He can feel his hair and clothes clinging to his body, wet and sticky as they are, and now lying in the dirt he knows it is also clinging to him. He’s still dragging in deep, rasping breathes, trying to make up for the lack of oxygen he had inside the flan. 

He hiccups, coughs and sobs against the floor. His body feels so raw and violated, completely ripped and pulled open in every way possible. He can only assume that the slowly disappearing squelching noises were the flan taking its retreat. He couldn’t look if he wanted to, body completely exhausted and unable to move, every nerve in his body throbbing with pain and exertion.

“What a tough round! Who would’ve thought flans were such passionate lovers!? he was almost a goner, but he pulled through in the end! But it’s still another crushing blow to his once perfect streak. The round goes to the flan!” the announcer shouts loudly through the arena, “but it’s not over just yet, our champion lives on! And we still have more beasts who are just waiting to have their way with him, so what do you think folks? What should we bring out next?”

He pauses to allow the audience to scream their suggestions at him, noise increasing to such an extreme level that Noctis can’t even hear a single word being said. It’s even more disgusting when he remembers that every single person screaming those words is enjoying his suffering and encouraging it even more. They’re all here just to watch some poor, idiotic hunter either slash his way through beasts, or get fucked to death by one instead. And now Noctis was that idiot hunter getting fucked to death while every single person here either profited from it or gained pleasure from it. 

He couldn’t take it, his mind was breaking, like thin cracks in a mirror growing and deepening with time until the whole thing shatters. The thought of another beasts clawing its way into the arena and having its way with him made him hysterical, he was hyperventilating and sobbing all at once, barely able to get a gasp of air into his lungs as he lay motionless on floor, still unable to move his body. 

“Alright, I think we’ve got out next contender! Let’s bring out a Ziggurat!” the announcer shouts, the crowd cheers, and Noctis yells out a sob.

He doesn’t try to run this time when he hears the gate open, he knows he can’t. His limbs are too heavy to try drag his beaten body across the floor. Especially when he knows it will only delay the inevitable. He can hear the ziggurat’s clawed feet stomping across the ground towards him, can hear the draw of its long sickle-like protrusions scrape along the ground threateningly as it walks. Its voice draws out in low clicking snarls.

Noctis is shaking in fear, his face buried down into the dirt and refusing to try look back at the creature as it approaches him. The noises he hears, and his knowledge of ziggurats is enough to terrify him without even seeing it. A fleshy sound gives way to a ripping pain through his right thigh as something hard and jagged pierces the flesh all the way until it hits the floor.

Noctis screams so loud that his ears ring and he can’t even hear himself even though he knows noise is still being pulled from his throat. The pain is even worse than everything he’s felt up to this point, and he can feel the bony intrusion still stuck in his thigh. In seconds, he’s being dragged across the dirty floor, endless screams and cries falling from his mouth as the pain stabbing through his thigh only increases by the ziggurat dragging him closer, using one of its sickle like protrusions to prevent Noctis from escaping. Not that he was trying to.

The bone is removed quickly, ripping through the flesh even more, ridged edges tugging at the torn muscle. He sucks in a breath and wheezes at the blinding pain, blood starts pouring from the hole in his thigh, coating what remains of his pants and the dirt under him. The blood is so hot where it flows against him, but it makes the rest of him feel so cold. 

Next, he feels sharp, bony claws grip into the sticky fabric clinging to his body, just barely piercing the skin. He grits his teeth as he feels it tug harshly at the clothes, ripping them off his body while also forcing him to turn over and lie on his back. 

He’s left with barely the shoulders and neckline of his t-shirt still clinging to him desperately, and now lying on his ruined back he can feel the gritty dirt sticking to the cuts the drag across his skin. It hurts so bad, everything hurts so fucking bad he just wants it to stop. He’s bleeding to death, his body is being ripped apart, his lungs are failing to drag in even the smallest of breaths, and all Noctis wants to do is close his eyes and let this end. Let this be the last monster to defile me.

The beast has to kneel down to reach Noctis, double jointed legs folding down so that it can roughly heave his legs over it’s muscular, armoured thighs. Its skin is so cold and hard that it feels like metal against Noctis’ own. The ziggurat is so close now that he can see the lines in its hardened skin, shifting like plates up its stomach. It’s face looms above Noctis, strangely white teeth snarling down at him coated in shiny spit. It’s pointed features and hooked horns only make the daemon more frightening, and now that Noctis is forced to stare into its face as it claws at his body he can’t help but flinch away in fear.

Noctis’ eyes drag over the whole beast’s body, trying to find anything else to focus on apart from its hideous face. Instead his eyes stop somewhere worse. There’s a definite mound where the beast’s crotch is and the slit down the middle of it has parted so that it's long angular member can poke out. The tip is tapered thin and pointy, but the rest of it widens and curves upwards. Noctis can see the many different spikes and ridges that cover the penis, making it look even harder to take.

Suddenly, it’s arms slam down onto the ground beside him, bony sickles digging deep into dirt and flesh. Noctis chokes again, tasting iron on his tongue, as one of the sickles just cuts into the skin by his ribs, while the other pins his right bicep to the floor. Ripping through his flesh all over again. Noctis can’t even scream from the pain, bile and slime building up in the back of his throat and choking him as tears spill down his cheeks.

He’s gasping for air while the ziggurat lines itself up against his hole, tip already pressing against the burning skin. His hole has been so overworked that it burns when the ziggurat pushes into him, cold flesh only making his skin feel like hot coals are being pushed inside him. 

“St- s- stop... ple- ase!” Noctis barely manages to choke out through the overwhelming pain making his mind blank. Every thought that drags through his mind is just a swirling combination of how much it hurts and that he’s begging for it to end.

Just like the beasts before it, it pays his words no mind as it continues to push in until it’s buried to the hilt inside Noctis. He can feel every bump, ridge, and spike along its dick pressing into him painfully. Fresh tears are spilling down his face all over again at the feeling of something else forcing itself into his ass, he hates it. Hates the feeling so much, but there’s nothing he can do to stop this. 

Even if the ziggurat is much smaller than the behemoth, not that Noctis can imagine much that’s bigger than a behemoth, but the rawness of his skin and its hard spikes that run along the bottom of its dick are making it feel massive inside him. He doesn’t want this, doesn’t want the knowledge of how big a behemoth or a ziggurat’s dick is in his head, doesn’t want to know how it feels inside him. He won’t ever be able to fight one of these creatures again without this exact image of its face above his and its dick in his ass forcing its way into his mind. 

The ziggurat wastes no time in getting comfortable, quickly pulling out before thrusting back in, rough and hard and ruthless. With every slamming thrust into Noctis’ bruised hips it shakes his entire body, causing not only a dull ache to thrum through him and dirt to rub into his wounds, but also for the sickle-shaped bone currently pinning him to the floor to rattle inside him cruelly. As if the pain wasn’t already unbearable, now with every too-hard thrust came the feeling of skin being ripped from bone and muscle being torn as he was bounced violently on the ziggurat’s cock.

His mind had become stuck in a loop of begging and screaming and whimpering all mixed together, and it took several moments of fierce concentration to realize those thoughts were being forced out of his mouth as well in an unending babble. It was impossible to try calm the frantic rambling Noctis spoke, it was the only thing that kept his mind from completely separating from his body and losing track of everything. Though at this stage that sounded wonderful.

He’s losing a lot of blood, even Noctis is conscious enough to realize that despite how fuzzy and unfocused he is right now. He can feel his body growing heavier and his breaths getting shorter with each intake. If he could see his face he would see how pale his skin has become and the glazed over look in his eyes giving away his slipping consciousness, and despite the searing stabs of pain inside him, he can feel his body start to shiver. He’s probably going to die here.

He can’t imagine what Ignis would think of that, finding his king dead under some monster that fucks open his hollow corpse, surrounded by blood and cum and goo. It’s not how he imagined himself dying, but at least it would mean this pain would end, but the thought of putting his friends through that is worse than death he thinks. 

If there’s anyone he has to make this through for, it’s them. It’s Ignis, and Gladio, and Prompto, and Lunafreya. Oh god. What would she think of him. What would any of them think of him right now. He chokes on a sob as he thinks of their disgusted expressions, their pitiful looks. What a shame, they would say, we thought he would make a decent King one day, how wrong we were. He can’t help the flow of tears that streams down his cheeks at the thought.

His attention is forcefully pulled back to the brutal fucking the ziggurat is giving him when he feels a different kind of pain shoot inside him. Like tiny needles stabbing into the walls of his passage, or spikes, jabbing into the flesh and holding the ziggurat firmly in place as icy cold cum shoots deep into Noctis’ gut. He gasps at the feeling, body trying to pull away and curl in on itself at the same time, leaving Noctis a squirming mess on the floor with every movement that rips into him further.

He’s been lying there for too long while the ziggurat cums inside him almost endlessly, it feels like it's trying to fill in the spaces the flan had stretched open just a while ago. Finally, when Noctis’ stomach feels gross and full, he feels the spikes retract from his walls and the ziggurat pulls out, cum and left-over slime dribbling around it. There’s no slow let down, like the flan had done, instead the ziggurat simply yanks its sharp limbs from Noctis’ body with a loud squelch and an ear-splitting scream. Somehow, more blood rushes to the wounds despite the light-headedness Noctis already feels, he’s not sure he has enough blood left to waste.

It drops his body on the floor, clearly not caring about whether Noctis lives or dies, and he can feel the thud echoing through his bones as he tries to breathe again. It hurts so much to breath, so much to move. His body is begging for rest. There’s so much noise, Noctis just wants it to be quiet so he can sleep, he’s so tired right now. His head flops back and his eyes drift shut as everything starts to fade away. So tired, he thinks. Sleep will make it all go away, it’ll just be a nightmare, must be. 

If Noctis had been conscious enough he might have made out the shouted “Uh oh! Could this be the end of our champion!? And so soon? We still have plenty of beasts to bring out, so if you don’t want this to end make some noise!” the announcer uses to rile up the crowd all over again.

They scream and cheer as loud as they have all night, but Noctis remains unmoving on the floor of the arena. There’s an alarming amount of blood muddying the dirt around him, and his chest barely rises and falls with each shuddering breath.

“Wow, what a response! Well, if you want it so badly let’s put your money where your mouths are! 10,000 gil for a potion, who’s buying it?” 

There’s a mass of scrambling as people dig through their bags, wallets, pockets, make plans with the people sitting beside them, all trying to come up with the money the fastest, but an elderly man in an expensive suit simply stands, money in hand and says, “I’ll buy it.”

“Sold! Thank you for your kind donation, sir! Someone is coming around to collect the gil and a potion is on its way to our champion!”

The gate squeaks open a touch as a man runs into the arena, quickly breaking a potion above Noctis body before turning and hurrying back to the safety of the gates, pulling them tightly shut behind him.

Noctis startles awake with the sound of glass cracking and a rush of adrenaline and relief flooding over him. He bolts upright, then quickly folds into himself when he realises how much everything still hurts. It’s obvious by the fading feeling of magic under his skin that someone just gave him a potion, but it must have been a very weak one, or Noctis is just hurt so badly that the potion was only able to do the bare minimum of healing. All it really managed to do was pull him out of his unconscious state, dull some of the overwhelming pain, and help the blood clot faster in the gaping wounds across his body.

But the potion did its job, he wasn’t dead. Somehow, he lived on and he feared what that would mean to the announcer. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“Thanks to our generous donation, our champion is revived enough to continue! The fight’s not over yet people, and now for some of our old favourites! They don’t like to waste time, but they do like to share holes to fuck, it’s a pack of Voretooths!”


	3. Chapter 3

Even just the sound of the gate opening makes Noctis flinch in fear of what’s coming. The potion has helped, but he’s still only recovered enough to stay upright without completely keeling over right now. At least the threat of bleeding out is also gone, even if he still has a sizeable hole in his right thigh and bicep. Now, not only was his left arm still flopping uselessly by his size, probably broken or dislocated, but now both his right arm and leg were throbbing so fiercely in pain it hurt to move them even the smallest amount.

Sitting up he could also easily look down at his naked form now. The ziggurat had ripped off almost all of his clothes, all that remained now where some tatters that still clung to his body thanks to the sticky slime still coating his skin. He’d also somehow managed to keep one of his shoes on, which might’ve explained the mismatched pile of them he saw in the holding area before the arena. 

His body was a mess, sticky and dripping and covered in a multitude of bruises and scratches with blood and cum covering every bit of exposed skin. And he was very exposed. Worst of all he could see how his stomach stuck out in a raised bump from the sheer amount of liquid forced into him. He could even feel the thick cum and goo sloshing around inside him. Disgusting.

The scuffling of feet by the gate pulls his attention away from his beaten body and drags it to the now open gates where a pack of five voretooths rush in. They spread out in the arena to surround Noctis from all angles, he can’t watch them all as they circle around him, looking hungrier than just for food. He tries to turn his head, and watch as many of them as he can, but there’s always another behind him no matter how hard he tries, and he can only keep turning his body so much before it jolts in protesting pains.

He’s forced out of his observing watch to wrap his arms around his waist and his as his body throbs hard from him trying to twist around to follow the voretooths, and he doesn’t realise that he just gave them the opening they were waiting for. 

They pounce, the one directly behind him coming to stand right over his curled-up form. The only indication he has to it arriving is the sudden shadow over his head and the increased sound of snarling above him. He pauses, breathing hard in fear, he’s tries to think of what the best thing to do right now without getting killed. It’s a hard bet between doing absolutely nothing or trying to get away from it as quickly as possible.

He tries to scramble away, no matter how much it hurts to move he can’t just lie there and take it again. He has to at least try to fight back. Using his better arm and his legs he pushes his body off the ground, knocking the voretooth back slightly, before breaking off in a stumbling run. He manages a few limped steps before three of the voretooths dash to surround him again, approaching in slow, threatening steps. His eyes flicker from one beast to the other, and he’s back to square one of waiting for them to move. 

He can feel his right leg shaking, straining with Noctis’ weight pushing on it and it’s gaping wound. He shuffles his feet a little, trying to stop himself from falling over, but his body is still too weak. He’s putting on the bravest face he can as he stares down the voretooths, and he hopes it's at least somewhat intimidating. The voretooths keep approaching slowly, heads dropped low to the ground and ready to attack in seconds. One lunges at Noctis from the side and he just narrowly dodges the attack, losing his balance on the way and falling onto his side. 

Another rushes towards him, standing over him again with a deep growl that makes him shut his eyes and flinch back. There’s a stab in his thigh that makes him jump, not very painful, but enough that he’s panicking about what it was. He can see the tip of the voretooth’s tail pulling from his thigh and swishing back behind the beast. Fuck, poison. Noctis feels the slight burn of it through his blood, coursing right up to his heart with every frantic pump. He presses his hand against the small puncture wound like it will somehow stop the poison from spreading through his body, but it doesn’t.

Logically, he knows the voretooth’s poison isn’t that strong compared to other beasts, and it has a tendency to wear off on its own, but that doesn’t make the current burning sensation running through his veins any better. His breathing picks up again with his thudding heartbeat, and the voretooth still looms above him, spit dribbling through its jagged teeth. The poison makes Noctis dizzy and nauseous, he can feel it pulse in his veins with a sharp ache that pulls at his organs. His head drops back, and he groans, eyes squeezed shut against the pain.

It’s not a smart move, but there’s not much else he can do at the moment. Not even when he feels a cold wet nose push into his thigh and nudge it back with a surprising strength, forcing his legs to spread open. Then there’s a wet tongue sliding up his shaking thighs and across his dick and then towards his ass. It’s rough, wet, and feels revolting against him. There’s a rumble from the beast’s chest that almost sounds approving before it’s pawing its way further up Noctis body until it’s hips are aligned with his. 

Noctis is lying half on his side and half on his stomach now, thighs spread, and head turned back to look over his shoulder and watch as the voretooth’s dick presses between his cheeks. It moves back and forth experimentally until it slides over Noctis’ hole, dragging a yelp from him at the feeling of something pressing against the over sensitive skin. It pushes in this time, spreading open the red, swollen skin to slowly thrust inside. Noctis jaw clenches tight, trying to hold back the yell that builds in his chest at the feeling of yet another thing being pushed into him. 

The potion must have healed him here somewhat too, because he doesn’t feel like he’s gaping open now. In fact, the skin feels tight and swollen as the voretooth pushes in, still slick with cum, but more resistant to something pushing inside him. Maybe his body finally caught up with how much Noctis didn’t want this, but all it had managed to achieve was more pain spreading through his hips and back as the voretooth split him open all over again, pressing hard into the hot walls of his passage.

Noctis can see the length of the penis being pushed into him through watering eyes, it seems impossible that so much of it just fits in him somehow. He doesn’t even understand how he’s taken these beasts into him over and over again, how they somehow keep spreading him open so easily. The voretooth’s dick is long and flushed in a pink-red colour, at the very base of the dick it looks like it bulges out into a round shape. It pushes all the way into him but stops when the round base meets his hole with resistance.

The poison throbs through his veins still, and with the added sensation of the voretooth’s hot dick pushing inside him it makes Noctis’ stomach cramp hard. His good arm, or at least the not dislocated arm, wraps around his middle at the sharp cramps that make his stomach clench. The voretooth pulls back slightly before thrusting back in until the bump hits against Noctis. He clenches his jaw and whines when the sharp thrust makes his stomach lurch again and his head swim violently. As if being poisoned wasn’t bad enough. 

He felt like throwing up all over again, the queasiness washing over him in waves with every thrust inside him, each picking up in speed as the voretooth gains control. It builds the intensity so quickly that it’s thrusting almost non-stop into Noctis’ weak body, short and fast snaps of its hips jostling him hard against the ground. It keeps pushing into him harder and harder, every time hitting that round knot at the bottom of its dick like it’s trying to force the whole thing inside him. 

And, finally, it does. The round base pops in suddenly with the next thrust, making Noctis’ eyes snap open, the scream he wanted to make only comes out in a wheezing gasp followed by another moan as his stomach does a painful flip. He can feel it trying to empty itself again, forcing what little remained in his stomach from throwing up before up into his throat. The voretooth has finally stopped thrusting now that the round knot is buried deep inside Noctis. It does nothing but pant, tongue lolling out of its mouth as it watches him, but suddenly Noctis can feel a burst inside him and a flow of cum pouring into him. It feels like someone just turned a hose on inside of him, there’s so much of it. 

The pressure building inside his stomach is only forcing his clenching throat to work harder to push its content into his mouth. He coughs hard until his mouth is full of hot, sticky fluids that he throws up on the ground. He gasps through heaves and coughs until his stomach is finished emptying what little it can onto the ground. His already sore throat throbbing all over again as stomach acid burns through it. 

When he blinks his teary eyes open again, he’s disgusted to see that all he managed to throw up is a mix of lumpy cum with streaks of blue slime mixed through it. He draws back as much as he can in disgust, but he can still feel more cum being dumped inside him which only makes him whine again, pathetically loud and sad. He drops his head down, hitting the floor with a painful thump, but it feels like nothing compared to every other pain he’s experiencing. 

Finally, the flood of cum eases up until it finally stops. The voretooth waits unmoving for a few moments until it yanks it's dick out with a painful tug. The cum starts to leak out across his asscheeks but all too soon there is another voretooth above him, already rubbing its hot member between his cheeks. 

It pushes into him and starts thrusting straight away, giving Noctis no time to rest between one dick and the other. This voretooth doesn’t start slow like the first had either, simply picking up the speed until it was slamming hard into Noctis’ hips making them ache with every heavy slap. Noctis can only groan and turn his head away as much as his body will allow him so that he doesn’t have to watch another drooling mutt climb over his body to thrust into him like some toy. Just feeling it inside him is enough of a reminder. 

He tries to lie there and take it, to let his mind empty and to just disappear from this whole ordeal so he doesn’t have to suffer anymore. With his eyes shut he only becomes even more aware of the sounds of growling and panting just loud enough over the distant crowd. He can feel the spit from the beasts open mouth flicking against his back with every thrust, dribbling from its mouth in foamy lines. It’s disgusting. Everything is disgusting. He’s disgusting. 

There’s no way he can show his face to anyone after this. No way his friends can put their trust in him, that they can believe he is strong enough to lead them anywhere. He doesn’t want to think about them now either, but it’s all his mind will allow him to substitute with the image of beasts clawing at his skin and splitting him open on their dicks. There’s nothing pleasant left to think about. At least the poison feels like it’s finally wearing off.

Another knotted base pushes into him, stretching him wide around it as it blocks the escape of the flood of cum that follows. He groans, already feeling his stomach bloat again with how much cum has been forced inside him in such a short amount of time. Noctis could swear he could feel the skin of his stomach stretching little by little as more hot cum filled him. The only positive thing he can think of is at least the voretooths are quick about it.

A wet tongue drags up his back, then again, lapping at the skin. The voretooth’s breath still puffs against his skin, making it pimple now at the cold air against wet skin. It keeps dragging it’s tongue up his back and neck until it's sticking his hair flat against his skin, all the while still buried deep inside his ass, pumping him full of cum. Just as the first did. Eventually the flow eases up until the voretooth pulls off him and pads away, satisfied now.

The ache in Noctis’ hips is horrible in this position, his back twisted so that his hips lay flat to the ground while his shoulders are turned to the side twisting him at the waist. He just wanted to move a little, just enough to straighten his back up so that it didn’t hurt so horribly. Instead, the movement is interpreted as another escape attempt by the next voretooth that rushes him. It makes him regret even thinking about moving when sharp teeth sink into the soft muscle between his neck and shoulder. 

He’d just managed to get his legs under him and his one good arm on the floor to support his weight when the voretooth jumped him, and now his arm was folded beneath him, unable to support the weight of his body and the voretooths while it sinks its teeth into his flesh. He cries out as he drops, forcing his face back into the dirt floor while his hips remain raised. A terrible mistake. Idiot, Noctis curses at himself, he was such an idiot.

The teeth hold him steady, even if he’s quivering in pain and fear that the voretooth might decide to throw its head back and take his throat with it. It’s whole body looms over him now, and with his hips raised the way they are, he can already feel the beast’s arousal against him, practically radiating heat before it pushes against his hole. 

\--

“Gladio, there you are!” Ignis says as he approaches the man leaning on a wall and chatting with two girls that seemed quite flustered by his bare chest and muscular arms that rested against the bricks above them.

“What’s up, Iggy?” he says, turning away from the girls, but smile still clear on his face.

“We all lost track of each other in the market, you’re the first person I’ve managed to spot. Have you seen Noctis and Prompto anywhere?” Ignis says with a slight crease between his eyebrows.

“Haven’t seen Prom since we got to the market and he ran off, and Noct said he was going for a walk before. Haven’t seen him since” Gladio shrugs, turning his attention back to the girls before Ignis grabs his arm.

“Gladio, it’s getting late. We should find them, who knows where they’ve wandered off to. We can’t be sure it’s safe in this town for Noctis yet” Ignis urges with an undertone of a threat in his voice.

Gladio sighs, saying a quick apology to the two girls before following Ignis off into the market. He knows better than to spend wasted time arguing with Ignis when it comes to Noctis and his wellbeing. It’s an argument he’ll never win.

“I don’t know why you worry about them so much, we’re in a big city, what could possibly happen to them?” Gladio grumbles alongside Ignis.

“It’s my job to worry, and if I remember correctly, it’s your job to keep him safe. Maybe you should be more concerned of his whereabouts too.” 

“Ah, the kid’s not that weak. He can handle himself, plus what could go wrong?”

“Too much, we have the whole ritual planned around our appearance. We can’t let anything interfere with that.”

“Yeah, yeah… Hey, isn’t that Prompto over there” Gladio says, pointing into the distance where a blond man is crouched over taking photos of a particularly colourful stand. The two walk directly up to him, noticing clearly that it’s Prompto by the time they approach. They also notice that he’s alone.

“Oh, hey guys!” Prompto smiles when he turns and sees Ignis and Gladio approach him, “We heading back to the hotel now?” 

“Well, we would, but we still have to find Noctis first. Have you seen him?” Ignis asks.

“Noct? Nope, haven’t seen him in a while, why? Did he wander off somewhere?” Prompto says, head tilting to the side slightly as he looks between the older men.

“Yeah, he did. Haven’t found him yet, and specs here is worried some Nifs have got to him” Gladio huffs, hands on his hips.

“Well, have you tried calling his phone?” Prompto asks.

“Yes, but there was no answer” Ignis sighs, adjusting his glasses on his face.

“Typical…” Gladio rolls his eyes, “he’s probably snuck off and found somewhere to fall asleep.”

Prompto chuckles while Ignis just sighs in an exasperated way. He’s too concerned for where Noctis has wandered off too to be making jokes right now. He just has a feeling deep in his heart that something is wrong, that Noctis is in more trouble than they believe he is. It’s not like him to just disappear like this.

“Let’s go, we need to find Noct” Ignis says firmly, leading the way.

“Got it” Prompto and Gladio say with a lazy salute, following in step behind Ignis.

\--

The teeth had finally been removed from his shoulder when the voretooth shoved its cock inside him, plugging him back up with the cum that was trying to escape. It only added more pressure to his already cramping stomach, and he desperately wanted it to stop. Every thrust only made his stomach lurch and Noctis choke at the feeling of thick fluids sloshing inside his bulging stomach.

And now that the teeth had left his shoulder, he could feel the pulsing pain as blood gushes from the wound, wetting his face and the ground beneath him. Just another gaping wound to add to the list, he doubts they’ll be kind enough, or cruel enough as it would be, to give him another potion. If he bleeds out now, it will be the end of it. Part of Noctis doesn’t disagree with that thought.

This new position also has his shoulders down to the ground, and he’s trying desperately with his good arm to support the weight on that side of his body, rather than letting his limp, broken one get crushed under him again. It strains him to hold himself up like that against the harsh thrusts bruising his raised hips, and honestly the position isn’t better than the one he was trying to get out of before. 

Unsurprisingly, this voretooth is thrusting into him at a painfully aggressive speed, hips snapping hard and fast into Noctis’ and forcing strained cries to echo into the arena. Just like it's jaw had closed over Noctis’ flesh cruelly before, now it thrust its way into his body possessively, as if he was only there with the purpose of taking dick from these creatures. Which in a way, he was.

It’s thrusting so hard and fast against him that each time Noctis can feel more and more of its knot sliding into him before it’s pulls back out again. It’s speed only seems to increase until it just feels like something hard is stabbing Noctis repeatedly, beating against his already numb body and making the pain radiate deep within his guts. Another knot is pushed into him, hard enough that it slides all the way inside and his swollen opening closes around it, only helping to hold it in place while cum starts shooting into him. 

Noctis closes his eyes and whines when he feels his stomach throb again, protesting to the added cum being forced inside him. He’s too full, he can’t take another drop of it inside him, yet the beast holds him still, hips locked against his as the cum floods into him and his nausea builds again. It makes the sharp cramping he feels only double along with the sick feeling that weaves its way through his chest, like he ate too much of Ignis’ cooking. Except this isn’t his warm delicious cooking, and it’s not a case of overeating.

The voretooth must have grown inpatient because Noctis can feel it trying to tug the knot out while cum still pumps into him. It tugs at his opening, pulling out with a squelch and a sharp pain before Noctis can feel the strings of cum shooting across his back and ass. He grimaces as he feels the last few jerky pumps of it sticking to his skin before the presence of the voretooth disappears temporarily, quickly being replaced by another.

Noctis can’t even focus on the new voretooth rubbing against him now, he pulls his arm forward enough, so he can bury his face into his elbow. He doesn’t think about how another dick is rubbing between his cheeks, about how it’s smearing more cum against his skin. He tries to ignore every ache and pain that throbs through his body, how every slight movement makes him want to cry out in pain. He still tries to ignore it even when his jaw clenches at the tightness of another cock inside him.

His mind finally blanks, and he can sit there limply, letting another voretooth fuck him and dump it's cum inside him before retreating away. He can’t even tell the difference when the next one is on top of him, thrusting and panting and drooling until it knots him. He lays there motionless, not even realizing that the voretooths have retreated back into the gates when they’ve finished, leaving Noctis’ naked, abused body lying on the floor of the arena, hips raised and exposing his leaking hole to the audience that excitedly cheers him on.

There’s voices and noise, so much noise that just lists through his ear and seems to pool onto the floor without being understood at all. He’s vaguely aware the announcer is speaking again, probably saying something far too enthusiastic about the brutal rapes that Noctis has suffered. Noctis’ eyes are open, but his head has emptied itself, unable to be present anymore to what’s happening around him. He’s too exhausted to care anymore. 

His body curls up involuntarily at the sound of the gates opening again, but he has no idea what’s coming. Couldn’t hear the sounds that had announced his fate moments ago, and now his body trembled in unknowing fear of what would creep out of the gates to take him this time. There wasn’t a single thing that could walk through those gates that would please Noctis right now. Unless it was his friends, but even then, the deep humiliation and fear that bore its way into his chest made that thought just as terrifying on its own.

He could only lie there and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno if I'm a fan of this only posting on weekends thing. I'll probably keep it up for a little longer, but idk. anyway, new chap wow! hopefully it was enjoyable, even though I feel I was getting kinda repetitive there? hard to put variety in when you're essentially getting gangbanged by a group of dogs?? not a whole bunch of creativity going on there, and they don't have hands either. Also, what's it gunna be next chapter, who knows???? oooooh


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This chapter has some psychological torture and a lot of embarrassment and stuff in it so tread carefully!

There’s an icy chill that fills the arena. White fog floats along the floor and surrounds Noctis, leaving a cold shiver to run through his body. There’s a low howling like the sound of wind echoing into an empty room. It sounds like a ghost is making its presence known. He can’t hear any footsteps, or any movement at all. Just the howling and freezing cold that fills the space around him. Even the crowd has quieted their screams.

He’s not sure if he even wants to look, but it seems stupid to just lie here and do nothing as something sneaks up on him, so he pulls his head out of the crook of his arm where he’d buried it and peers up to look around the arena. He can’t see anything at first, just white fog that pools in a thick layer against the floor. Then in the distance he sees something, unclear but moving closer with every second. It looks vaguely human shaped, but longer and pointier and it doesn’t quite move like it’s walking. Instead it just glides across the floor, stalking towards Noctis.

As soon as it is close enough for Noctis to make out what it is, he’s falling backwards and digging his feet into the floor to push himself away. No way, no fucking way, he thinks, breath coming out in white puffs as he tries to create more distance between the looming figure and himself. It glides ever forward, it has no feet to make noisy footsteps with and even if it did its whole-body floats off the ground by a foot or so, making its already huge form even more daunting as it approaches.

The mindflayer is one of the few daemons he’s fought that never fails to make a spark of fear shoot through his chest. He’s encountered them before, and every time their hideous faces, cold breath, and invasive bodies have damn well beaten Noctis down hard. He wouldn’t have survived the encounters alone, and now he is completely alone with one determined mindflayer approaching him. 

Its arms spread out wide along with its tentacle curtain of a body as if trying to draw Noctis into an embrace. Run, his head yells, run, run, RUN. but he can’t, he can’t move, can’t run, can’t escape. He knows this, it’s written all over his body in gaping wounds and bruises. Yet somehow, he tries anyway, stumbling upright and turning to hobble away from the daemon. He knows he must look ridiculously pathetic, limping around a cage as he’s pursued by an inescapable monster. 

He’d almost forgotten in all his suffering that he had been waiting for his magic to recharge itself. He can feel small traces of it thrum through his body again, definitely not fully recharged, but it’s enough. Enough to try defending himself. The only question is if he has enough strength to put up a fight. He tests his right hand, flexing the fingers to feel the magic spark into them. He’s not sure how long his magic will even last this time, but he’s praying that it will be enough. 

He waits for the mindflayer to get closer, not wanting to waste the magic on a warp over to it. He’d rather let it think he was completely defenceless, so he can take it by surprise, but standing is hard, and his legs are already trembling to keep him standing. By the time it’s close enough to make out it's ugly face, Noctis has already curled into himself, trying his best to stay upright. It takes more effort than he’d ever admit just to summon his sword into his hand. 

He lunges for the beast, arm flailing and awkward trying to balance the weight of his sword in his one aching arm. Despite being armed now, the mindflayer is still a formidable enemy, and even when the sword hits its mark, the beast barely flinches. The tentacles that position themselves where its mouth should be raise threateningly, flaring out in a circle as a high-pitched hiss echoes around him. It takes all his effort not to drop his blade to cover his ears at the sound, but he manages.

It seems all he’s succeeded in doing is pissing off the mindflayer more, causing it’s hissing to increase to unbearable levels as it’s tentacled body grabs for Noctis. He moves as quickly as he can and manages to warp a few feet away, but the recoil is worse than he expected in his injured state. He collapses to his knees when he warps back in, arms gripping tight around his chest and stomach as he wheezes and coughs. Speckled drops of blood hit the floor with his ragged breathing, and he knows that he can’t do that again. His body is too beaten to fight like this.

The cold air seems to follow him, and the hissing increases again as the mindflayer pursues Noctis. He turns to see the mindflayer moving towards him alarmingly fast, body spread open and only mere feet away from taking Noctis completely. He summons the easiest and fastest weapon he can in the moment, a sharp dagger appearing in his hand in a flash of blue. He holds it in front of him just as the curtain of tentacles closes around his body. He can feel the blade sink into the flesh and hear the mindflayer’s displeased squeals as its body seems to squeeze tighter around him. 

Noctis yells at the crushing, slimy wall that surrounds him, dagger disappearing into nothing. The mindflayer’s body blocks out all the light, making it pitch black as it holds Noctis’ upper half tightly in its grip. He can feel every one of its hundreds of suckers sticking to his skin and moving against him. The revolting feeling of a warm, mucus body covering him again makes Noctis throw himself around in an attempt to break free, legs kicking out desperately trying to loosen its hold on him. 

It feels like the darkness is seeping into his mind, low rumbles turn into the sounds of screams to Noctis as images overwhelm him. He swears he can hear his name being screamed distantly and he tries even harder to break free to find the source of it. Then a deafening scream rings in his ears, sounding too familiar, too much like someone he loves for him to not panic. 

Images force their way into his head, his mother’s limp body against his as her blood pools around them. He can practically feel it soaking into his skin and he yells for her to get up, please get up. He hasn’t thought of that day in such a long time, but somehow the thought of it is burning into his mind right now. All the same hurt and terror of the event is building its way up in his chest again, making him feel like the terrified child whose mother was dying next to him all over again.

The tentacles release him, and he falls to the floor yelling and thrashing. He feels like all the energy has been drained from him and replaced with a foreboding sense of terror. It makes him push back away from the mindflayer again, though he doesn’t get far. Tears well up in his eyes as it looms over him, arms outstretched and reaching for Noctis.

“N-no! No!!” He yells, pulling his arms up in front of him to shield himself from the daemon. 

It’s long clawed fingers wrap around his forearms and pull him up harshly, lifting him high off the ground so that his feet dangle below him. His arms are lifted above his head and the weight of his body pulls at his shoulders painfully, making him wince and cry out. 

He tries to pull his arms from the mindflayer’s grasp, but sharp claws sink deeper into skin until he stills. He’s almost eye level with the beast now and he can see its beady eyes and its tentacles that seem to curl and writhe endlessly against its body. He can’t pull his eyes away from its hideous face, even when a deep fear is growing within him, gripping at his chest and telling him to look away.

He’s so caught up in staring into its face that it takes a moment to actually notice that the tentacles aren’t just moving aimlessly but are reaching out to touch his own face. He flinches back when the first tentacle brushes again his cheek, terrified gasp escaping his lips. The tentacles continue forward, and with his body being dangled off the floor he has no leverage to pull himself out of their reach as they glide over his skin. 

They caress his cheeks and slide over his lips and neck making Noctis clench his jaw at the first touch to his mouth. They continue to move over his skin, suckers tugging at him lightly as the wriggle against him, like some perverted kind of kissing. They finally release him, it’s head pulling back to observe Noctis in its grip. He’s gasping for breath after having held it back anytime one of the tentacles moved over his lips or too close to his nose, finally feeling like he can open his mouth again without an unwanted intrusion. 

A low whoosh like a rumble sounds from the mindflayer as he feels it’s hands moving around him, adjusting him until he’s facing the other direction, his back now turned towards the mindflayer. He feels even more terrified now that he can’t see what the monster is doing behind him. Its hands have moved from his arms down to his waist and then finally to his thighs where it hoists them up until Noctis’ legs are bent and spread wide open before the mindflayer. 

Tentacles caress his body again, two stronger ones pulling his hands back at the wrists to remain behind him, so he can’t move. His face is flushed red and he grimaces at the horribly vulnerable position the creature has him in. He has no way to move or defend himself in this position, body being entirely supported by the mindflayers. It pulls at his thighs and forces them to stay open even when Noctis tries to squeeze them back together, to cover himself in any way.

He can feel the tentacles curl around his body again, wrapping around his stomach and legs, sliding up his back and over his ass. He can even feel the same tentacles from its face curl up against the back of his neck and slide forward to press against his face. Noctis tugs at his wrists and turns his head away as much as he can from the mindflayer’s possessive hold, but no matter how much he squirms there is nowhere to go. He simply squeezes his eyes shut and feebly pulls at the many limbs holding him.

“Noctis?” a voice so familiar calls to him. So familiar, yet he knows it cannot be because his father is dead. He can’t be hearing the voice of a dead man.

His eyes snap open and somehow his father is standing in front of him, mere metres away looking at him with a devastating mix of disgust and disappointment. He knows it can’t be real, a large part of his mind is trying to rationalise how he’s seeing his father right now, but that doesn’t make the stab of pain in his chest any less real. Doesn’t make the horrible look on his father’s face hurt any less.

“N-no” Noctis says, turning his face away as best he can, but tentacles hold him steady keeping his head forward.

“Noctis, what have you done?” his father speaks again, sounding just like he had so long ago. “This… this is not what I expected of you when I sent you away that day.”

Noctis chokes at his father’s words, digging deeper into his heart than he thought was even possible. 

“D- dad? Wh-” Noctis mumbles deliriously, mouth sloppy and stumbling over syllables.

“I thought you were better than this… Stronger than this. Apparently, you were not ready like I thought you would be. I should have never trusted you to take this responsibility. You aren’t ready” His father says, head turned up so that every word is spoken down to Noctis, beating against his already crumbling sense of self-worth. 

He can feel the tentacles getting firmer with their movements, making him squirm harder as the rub over every inch of his skin. A tentacle slides around his cock at the same time another presses against his hole, earning a frightened gasp to call out. The tentacle against his cock wraps itself around him and squeezes tightly, making Noctis groan. Everything hurts too much for him to find any pleasure in the sensation, all his can feel is how tightly it pulls at him and how it makes his stomach lurch with every stroke.

Behind him he can feel the tentacle pushing into his hole and pulling out quickly, repeating the movement so that it’s thrusting shallowly inside of Noctis. The amount of cum inside him makes it all too easy for the tentacle to slip inside, and with every thrust more of the fluid comes flooding out, making everything sound disgustingly wet. Embarrassment fills his chest and stomach with butterflies at the obvious sound of sex that echoes into the arena, and the tentacle starts to push more into him with every noisy thrust.

“Noctis,” his father repeats, making his eyes look up at him again despite how much he doesn’t want to see him like this, “Is this what you’ve become? All you sought to achieve on this journey? I’m so terribly disappointed in you.”

“N-no! Don- don’t look!” Noctis says through gasping breaths, tears are welling up in his eyes and blurring the image of his father, “P-please, don’t l-look!”

The tentacle is nestled deep inside him now, thrusting so hard that Noctis’ body jolts every time it moves. Another tentacle brushes across his already stretched hole and teases its tip against it, pushing in slowly until it was filling him alongside the other one. A long whine drags out of Noctis’ throat as the two tentacles start moving inside him, rhythms offset of each other so that one is pulling out while the other pushes in. Cum is spilling out of his spent hole as the tentacles fuck into his bloated belly, forcing it out as they push their way in. All the while tentacles still coil around his cheeks and face, occasionally dipping into his open mouth to rub against his tongue and push against his cheeks.

“There was only so much we could do to help him, yet his stupidity is his own downfall here” Ignis’ voice rings out loud and clear, burning with disappointment, and Noctis turns his head to see him standing there watching him.

“I didn’t know he wanted to get fucked so badly, must’ve been pretty desperate to come here” Prompto’s voice calls from his other side and Noctis can see him when he turns too. 

“I guess calling you princess finally took, you certainly look like a damsel in distress right now” Gladio says, suddenly standing not too far away from where Prompto was.

Words that try to leave Noctis mouth are muffled by a tentacle pushing its way past his lips and filling his mouth, making him moan around it trying to speak. They’re all standing there watching him, his father, his best friends, eyes all hot with disgust and disapproval as they burn into his skin. His mind is still trying to rationalize this, they aren’t real, they aren’t here, he’s all alone right now, but that doesn’t stop the fear that grips him from forcing tears to spill down his face as he feels the tentacles push against his full guts and make him whimper. 

“What a disgusting display, I’d hoped you had learned something from the years I spent with you, but clearly my efforts were wasted” Ignis sighs, fingers pushing his glasses up his nose as he puts his other hand on his hips.

“Wow, he can even fit two of them inside him so easily! He must be really desperate for it if he had to stoop to fucking monsters to satisfy himself” Prompto whistles, visibly bending over to admire the view of tentacles fucking into Noctis. Noctis tugs at his thighs uselessly again, trying to cover himself in any way, but the mindflayer’s grip just tightens and pulls them further apart, causing another yelp from Noctis.

“Pl-leashe sh-top!” Noctis cries around the tentacles in his mouth, closing his eyes and trying to turn away from the faces of the people he loves watching him get defiled. “Y-you’re not real!”

“Stop? No, I don’t think that will be necessary” a sly voice seems to float through the almost silent arena, sending a shiver down Noctis’ back when he hears it. 

A silver blade shoots through his father’s chest making the man cry out as his hands shake, unsure of whether to touch the bleeding wound or not. Noctis screams out through his crowded mouth, watching as his father crumples to the floor in front of him while a dark figure steps forward from his place. Everyone is suddenly gone except for the man that takes slow, calculated steps forward, cape rustling behind him as he walks.

Ardyn tips his hat as his lips curl into a lopsided smile that he offers Noctis before righting himself again. Noctis is gasping through sobs, image of his father dying while he was helpless to do anything burned into his mind forever. He pulls weakly at his hands again, sobbing loudly.

“Maybe that was too on the nose, hm? Too easy to use as bait, pinning your friends and family against you like that” Ardyn grins as he paces in front of him, hands curled behind his back, “I think something more stimulating is in order, something that really brings out that delicious scent of fear you’re giving off.”

“N-not… real… you- no-” Noctis tries as spit coats his lips, unable to coordinate himself well enough to form words.

“Ah, but how do you really know? I’ve proven myself quite the magician before, haven’t I?” He grins again, stopping just in front of Noctis shaking form.

“Nn… don’t… b-believe you…” Noctis says with a grimace as he feels another tentacle push into him, curling around the two others.

“Well, that’s understandable. What proof do I even have to offer you?” he says with a dismissive flick of his wrist as he turns to walk again. “But, then again would you rather me be in here with you or out there with your friends? I mean it’s been so long since you disappeared, who knows what’s happened while you’ve been gone. Altissia is under Niflheim’s control, you know.”

“No” Noctis wheezes, shaking his head in disbelief, “No.” He doesn’t want to believe that his stupidity is so great that it put his friends lives in danger too, that Ardyn could have found them while he was here.

“Well, you’ll never find out if you remain here will you. And look at you, so open and inviting. No wonder all these beasts have had their way with you, you do make quite the alluring toy. If I had the time I might even consider having a turn myself, though I’m not a fan of sloppy seconds, or sloppy ninths in this case” he says with a laugh.

At that the mindflayer thrusts into him, lifting his whole body up before pulling him down roughly, forcing its tentacles deeper inside. Noctis yells as he is pulled down onto the mindflayer’s body, tentacles wriggling inside him and moving independently of each other making it feel like his organs are being rearranged inside him. 

“Really, so messy” Ardyn sighs as he looks up and down Noctis body, observing all the many ways he’s been messed up. The smattering of bruises and scratches that cover his body, the various gaping wounds that are coated in drying blood and fresh scabs, and the mix of body fluids that coat his skin and leak from his hole, coating his thighs with every thrust. 

“I would have never guessed this was a talent of yours, young Prince. Though you do make a very striking fuck hole, maybe you would be popular amongst that ranks of Niflheim soldiers. I’m sure they would treat you better than these beasts, but then again… maybe not.”

He approaches Noctis as he says those words, getting uncomfortably close to his face as he steps in closer. The tentacles pull Noctis’ head back so that he is forced to look into Ardyn’s eyes as he sneers down at him. A touch, feather light at first, but then growing in force presses onto his stomach, forcing a sharp groan out of Noctis as the tentacles writhe against his skin and more cum is forced out of him. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Ardyn mocks with an overemphasised look of concern on his face before he presses harder against Noctis’ round stomach, making him curl up and yell as much as he can.

It seems impossible, how could he be touching him if he’s not even real. It doesn’t make sense to Noctis’ flustered mind. Panic, fear and a new sense of terror at what could be done to him if Ardyn is able to touch him overruns his mind. 

He doesn’t like it, the feeling of a person touching him right now. After every clawed hand and paw that has touched him tonight, this one feels the most invasive. Finger’s digging into his skin and palm pushing into his overstuffed stomach, making all the sensitive, overworked organs inside him deform painfully while the mindflayer messes him up from the inside. It’s a horrible sensation of feeling beaten from both the inside and the outside simultaneously. 

Maybe he is real, maybe everyone else was an illusion just to convince Noctis that Ardyn must be one too. He doesn’t know, what the hell is he supposed to do either way. He can’t do anything like this. He can’t fight him or try curse him out, he can barely say a full word with the way the tentacles fondle his tongue and slide down his throat, all while bouncing his body on the mindflayer’s lap.

A hand grasps at his jaw, tilting his head back to look into Ardyn’s dark eyes. Tears are still sliding over his cheeks when the man tilts his head and pushes his lips to Noctis’ earning a panicked gasp and some added thrashing as he tries to pull away from the man’s dry lips against his wet ones. Tentacles still slide past his lips and now with Ardyn’s tongue pushing in against them there’s a terrible sense of overcrowding happening in his mouth, making him sick to his stomach. 

The kiss is sloppy and Ardyn’s open mouth drags over Noctis’ and then over his chin and cheeks like he’s trying to lap up all the spit from his face. Noctis’ eyes are wide with fear as this man holds him and forces him to stare into his eyes as wipes the back of his hand across his chin, grinning at Noctis.

“Not the most pleasant taste, but I’ll forgive you for that” he chuckles, tossing Noctis’ face sideways as he steps back.

Noctis breathes hard trying to comprehend what’s happening. His head hangs loosely between his shoulders, body unable to react to any of the movements happening to him as his mind tries to grasp for something real to keep Noctis grounded. To stop him from fading away completely. 

A darkness seems to creep up through the back of his neck and into the base of his mind, filling the edge of his vision with a dark, foggy frame. Noises echo in his ears, like distant growls and screams and an assortment of other horrors calling out to him. Familiar and unfamiliar all at once. Ardyn turns to face him again, body seeming to fade into the darkness as well.

“As much fun as it is to play with you, I think you could give off an even sweeter taste if you were truly consumed by fear” and with that darkness overcomes him, fills Noctis’ vision with black as the sounds of horrors becomes louder and closer.

He throws his body violently, unable to see any impending threats, but hearing every one of them approach him. It feels like claws and teeth and hands are all over his body, tugging at his skin and pulling at his limbs. Chunks of flesh ripped off him in what feels like explosions of blood and pain. It feels like he’s being mauled alive, torn apart, and savaged until there’s nothing left. He thrashes side to side screaming out as the feelings overwhelm him.

“St- stop!! Stop!!! No!” he screams, eyes open but glazed over and unable to see anything but the images of terrors that run through his mind. 

The mindflayer is the only beast there, the only thing holding him and touching him as it continues to pleasure itself with his body. The crowd has gone silent, watching this whole time as Noctis speaks to an empty arena and cries out at seemingly nothing. Even the announcer is reconsidering the choice as he watches the boy become increasingly more distressed at what appears to be nothing. He might have to reconsider using mindflayers in future shows if they have this kind of effect on a person. It’s too much for even the crowd to get into.

Loud sobs echo through the quiet arena, punctuated with frustrated screams as Noctis shakes his head violently, appearing to try and physically rip himself from the mindflayer’s grasp desperately, even if it’s claws dig into his skin as he does. Somehow, the mindflayer seems unconcerned with the violent outbreak Noctis is having, continuing its rhythmic movements inside him. It almost seems like the more distressed Noctis becomes, the stronger the mindflayer’s movements get until it’s ploughing into him non-stop. 

It thrusts in one more time, holding itself in Noctis as it releases a few stringy pumps of cum inside him. Noctis barely seems aware of it, even as mindflayer starts to untangle itself from his body before dropping him to the ground and floating away slowly. Noctis hits the ground hard, breath being knocked out of him as his body continues to writhe and curl on itself. His fingers dig into the dirt as he screams, but the scream weakens as the distant look in his eyes fades and his vision returns to him.

When he can finally see clearly again, and he recognises that the mindflayer is gone and he bites his lips and draws his knees into himself as a long whine drags out of him and more big wet tears flow over his cheeks as he shakes. He couldn’t see the chunks of flesh and endless gashes he thought covered his skin right now, the beasts he had heard and felt tearing him apart were nowhere to be seen. His body was still beaten and bruised, but it was a relief to see that hordes of beasts hadn’t truly started to tear flesh from his bones in a hungry rampage. Though he still ached like they did.

It was terrifying, he truly thought he was dying in that moment, but instead it was all a part of the mindflayer’s games. Manipulating him to get him to become more terrified of it and give it the emotions that it craved so much. Mindflayer’s were known to find the emotion of fear very enticing. 

Noctis didn’t know what to do, his mind was still racing with a need to fight back and survive. To prevent anything from getting close to him ever again. It was like he’d lost touch with where he was and now just felt like a caged animal, ready to lash out at any unknown threat that might approach him. His chest heaves as he tries to breathe through his tears.

“I- uh, the champion… survives” the announcer says, for the first time that evening not putting on his overdramatic enthusiasm. He sounds just as lost for words as the now silent crowd does. 

He clears his throat slightly before forcing a smile on his face and speaking out, louder this time, “And what amazing stamina he has! No one has ever managed to take on a mindflayer before, and what a battle that was! Maybe he could use something that isn’t so serious and dull. How about some playful imps!” 

The crowd starts to make some noise again, quieter still, but trying to move past the nightmarish feeling that overtook the arena when the mindflayer entered. The announcer knew he would be pulling the mindflayer from the line-up from now on, not even he was cruel enough to want to inflict that onto another person. Especially since it didn’t make for a profit.

Noctis is only mildly aware that there was noise building around him, but when he hears the distinct clunk of the gate opening and the sound of scampering feet and devilish chatter his whole-body tenses. He’s not letting them touch him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew! I honestly wasn't sure if the mindflayer was going to take a whole chapter by itself or not, but here it is! Hopefully we all enjoyed Noctis suffering, he's worked hard for it.


	5. Chapter 5

Several imps scampered into the arena, clawed feet scratching across the floor and kicking up dirt as they ran in. High pitched chuckles and hisses fill the space as they shove past each other to find Noctis struggling to push himself up with his better arm. He scowls at them as much as he can, even looking the way he does with tears, spit, and dirt on his face. The imps waste no time in closing the distance between themselves and him, quickly pushing forward until one of them is reaching its clawed hand out to grab him. 

Noctis flinches back with a snarl, “Don’t fucking touch me!” he shouts, falling back slightly as he fails to move away in time.

He bats at their hands trying to force them away, even as their claws scratch at his skin and he struggles across the floor to escape them. He’s trying as hard as he can to fight them one handed while still trying to maintain his balance as one arm still hangs uselessly by his side. He doesn’t want to give them the chance to overpower him if he’s lying down, so he forces himself to stay as upright as he can. 

A hand gripping his ankle makes him kick out furiously, shaking his legs to try break free of the grip as he yells angrily. All the feelings of being unable to fight back against every monster that was so much larger and stronger than he was has built up inside him and now he desperately needs to fight back and win. He won’t let these daemons break him again.

“Get off! Let go!!” he yells hoarsely, kicking one of the imps back.

He should be able to fight them without any trouble. Four imps should be nothing for Noctis in comparison to the kinds of creatures he’s killed before. Or at least, old Noctis could have dealt with these creatures without breaking a sweat, but somehow, they just keep coming back whenever he shoves them away, sharp fingers swiping at his body and digging through skin. His tired, sore body can only keep up this constant struggling for so long before he tires. But he can’t give up, even if it feels like a hundred hands tugging at his limbs.

A hand grips at his forearm while another holds his bicep as he struggles to shake the imp. Two more imps at his feet are clawing to pin down his legs that push and kick them away repeatedly. The last imp grips his already bruised shoulder and his limp arm, squeezing the flesh and making Noctis scream out more as aching muscles are yanked again. He tries to stay focused through the pain, not wanting to give the imps an upper hand.

A sharp stab of pain seizes his arm and makes his fingers clench involuntarily as a pointed finger pokes into the gaping wound in his bicep. He barely chokes out another scream as the pain makes his heart race and his back arch while both of his arms are tensed in excruciating pain. His toes curl and his legs stop moving just long enough for the imps to grip at them tightly and force them to the ground with a surprising amount of strength. Noctis is still reeling from the mind-numbing sensation of a wound being reopened as the imp digs around in it, picking at the fresh scabs and poking at exposed muscles that make his whole arm flex and tense randomly. 

Another finger starts to prod at the wound on his thigh, digging in and twisting sideways making bitter bile build up in the back of Noctis’ throat as he throws his head back in pain. He can feel the wounds being stretched and picked at, reopening the tissue there and letting blood drip in thin rivulets across his skin before being smeared away by the imps’ greedy hands. 

“St-stop-” Noctis gasps through stuttering breaths, eyes squeezed shut with every touch. 

He can barely control his spasming limbs enough to push the daemons away now as they force his body to tense under the strain. It makes fighting back seem like it’s not even an option anymore, like with such a small action they’ve managed to take away all of Noctis’ strength and have left him lying vulnerable and defenceless. He grits his teeth and blinks back tears as he feels the many hands digging through his muscle tissue and pinning him down to grope at his body. 

A hand grips at his chest, cupping it and squeezing like the imp has mistaken the slight muscle for a breast. Nonetheless, it still fondles and squeezes him, hand moving from one to the other and then both as another hand joins in. Noctis wriggles, trying to disappear into the floor if that’s what it takes, but the hands continue. Sharp nails pinch at his nipples making him hiss as the nubs are coaxed into red points by the imp’s hands. 

More hands roam his body now, sliding up his thighs until they bump into his genitals. He’s not sure he wants to look, but he does on reflex when he feels a bony hand grip at his member, stroking his dick in hard, dry pumps. He never associated the feeling of having his dick stroked with pain or suffering, but in this moment all he can feel with each eternally slow stroke is how it feels like his stomach is being yanked from his body syncing up with the rhythm of the imp’s hand.

More hands, endless hands, grip at him and when his eyes squeeze shut all he can see are monsters. Dark tendrils wrap around him tightly and suddenly every hand is connected to a person, faces that start unfocused but slowly come into view. His friends, his companions, people he trusts with his life are holding him, but it is no loving embrace. 

Their faces are contorted into vicious smiles that loom over him. Hands grope at his body in all the same ways the imps are, digging and pulling and pinching hungrily. 

Then Ardyn’s face pushes forward through the crowds, pressing right up to Noctis until their noses are almost touching. As much as he wants to recoil away from the man’s face that is so close to his, but his body has become numb. Frozen and unable to move, all he can do is stare into the dark eyes above him like pits of tar drowning him slowly.

“You look like you’re having fun” Ardyn mocks with a grin.

Noctis’ eyes whip open and he shouts as he manages to shake his arms and legs just enough to catch the imps off guard, but they recover faster than he can and scramble to pin him once more. This time one of the imps has grabbed his face, holding him still with its hands tightly pressed to his cheeks and temple. His mouth hangs open as he drags in panting breaths, eyes darting to catch sight of the daemon poised above him. It tilts his head back until his neck is stretched and he’s looking almost behind him as he lies on his back against the dirt floor. 

Except the imp’s body is all that comes into sight as he’s forced into an even more uncomfortable position. He can see it’s red, sinewy body behind him. Its tail flicks wickedly around it as its sharp face grins all its pointed yellow teeth at him. The first thing he notices is that the usual loincloths the daemons wear are gone, leaving nothing to the imagination and exposing the imp’s stiff cock to Noctis. His eyes widen at the sight of it, not so much from surprise but at the way the imp presses its hips forward until the tip of it is pushing past Noctis’ lips. 

He shakes his head, but the imp simply tightens its grip and pushes in harder until Noctis can taste it on his tongue. It’s harder with the creature’s claws digging into his face, but he clenches his jaw as much as he can, biting down on the imps’ member until it pulls out roughly with a shrill screech. Relief washes over him for a moment, thinking he deterred the creature from trying to force itself into his mouth, but then pointed fingers tug at the sides of his lips.

The fingers push in and pull at his lips, making Noctis’ cheeks stretch as it forces two, then three, then four fingers into his mouth. They scratch at his teeth until they manage to force his jaw open, then it holds it open with their surprising strength. Noctis’ mouth struggles to close as the imp’s hands force it open and it slides back in, tip brushing against the roof of his mouth.

It starts thrusting into his mouth quickly, forcing Noctis to take rushed breaths through his nose as it pounds into the back of his throat and makes him gag. His face is flushed hot and he can feel more tears leak from his eyes, he’s not even sure how he still has any tears left at this point. The fingers in his mouth force his lips to stay tugged open while the imp thrusts inside, forcing drool to spill down his face messily.

The hand gripping his dick squeezes still, and another hand comes up to push at his full stomach, making the contents shift about disgustingly. Noctis lets out a muffled whine at the feeling, unable to protest using words anymore. The hands poke and pinch and rub and stroke all over his body, sharp claws leaving fresh marks over his already ruined skin. Noctis isn’t even surprised when one of the hands finally finds its way into his dripping hole, pushing inside with two fingers to thrust in lazily. 

Claws scratch against the walls of his opening and it feels like the imp is trying to scrape out his insides with its harsh movements. Noctis squeezes his eyes shut again, he just wants this to be over already and maybe if he just lies there the imps will finish faster. He must be nearly at the end, it seems impossible that there would be any more beasts than what he’s already endured. He can’t even count how many different creatures have fucked him at this stage, his mind is too fuzzy to try and recall each of their hideous faces right now. Though he’s sure they’ll haunt him forever.

Something that Noctis immediately identifies as one of the imp’s penis, which horrifies him that he’s become so familiar with that feeling tonight, slides in alongside the fingers that continue their shallow thrusts. The imps aren’t big enough for the stretch to be as painful as every other beast that’s fucked him, but the sensation is still just as unpleasant. 

The only thing forcing his attention to remain present on what the imps are doing to his body is the effort Noctis has to put into his breathing so that he doesn’t choke around the dick being pushed into the back of his throat repeatedly. Though the lack of oxygen makes his head throb even more and his throat tightens painfully, it does provide enough distraction from the deep thrusts into his ass and the addition of teeth to the mix of sharp things that are marking up his body. 

A particularly hard bite lands itself over his right chest, sinking into the skin surrounding his nipple causing a rush of pain and blood to flow through the soft flesh. The teeth are yanked back out as soon as they sink in though, and its only moments until more teeth sink into other areas. Along his arms and legs, pushing right into the soft skin by his groin, sinking into the rise of his hips, anywhere the imps can reach him. 

His body tenses and he chokes on the thick liquid that suddenly fills his mouth and shoots down his throat. He coughs around the imp’s dick, still tucked snuggly into Noctis’ mouth, making more drool and cum sputter out between his open lips and all over his face. It fingers, and dick slide out and release Noctis face, allowing him to drop his head to the side as his chest heaves with coughs trying to expel the cum from his mouth while also catching his breath. 

Little changes though, the imps simply rotate positions so that another is pressing its cock to his lips while he’s still gasping for air. The one thrusting below still continues, but the fingers are pulled out to allow something else to replace them. A quick glance down tells him that another imp has pushed open his thighs wide enough to sit between them with the one already buried inside him. 

 

It really doesn’t add much when the second imp pushes in, only the increase in speed and the lack of rhythm shared between the two daemons. Three of the imps thrust into him, all hitting different speeds and each being off in timing so that Noctis can never predict what movement is next, only that there’s too much of it constantly. 

He doesn’t move except for the way his body shakes and whatever pose the imps position him into as they please themselves. The hand around his dick returns, slicker now with fluids from somewhere as it slides over his dick. It still hurts, but the wetness helps the glide feel almost bearable as the imp squeezes and tugs too hard at him. He can’t even feel the pleasure, but somehow his dick hardens within the grip of the imp, like it’s somehow convinced his body to participate when he doesn’t want to. 

He can feel the pain building in his belly, sharp and hot in his hips and he whimpers trying to pull away from the imp’s touch that is somehow infinitely worse than them thrusting into his ass. The imp continues to pump him, and with the thrusts in his mouth and hole shaking his body fiercely he can only clench his fists and let out muffled cries. Tears well in his eyes and he almost manage a full scream as the imp presses hard into his slit while squeezing him, somehow ripping an orgasm out of his body.

It doesn’t feel like an orgasm, it feels like fire burning his stomach and ripping through his penis as the imps continues to grip him. He sobs hard, eyes furrowed in confusion and fear at how the imp managed to force such a painful orgasm out of him. Was his body really so used to this that it could make him cum? 

He drops back limply after that, head swamped with pain and fear at his own body. It thankfully only takes the imps a short while longer before they all finish off, leaving Noctis even more sticky and tired, stomach filling out even more with the added fluids. He can feel one of them push its fingers back inside him, scooping up as much cum as it can and pushing it back in to keep any of it from leaking out. 

He can hear the imps scurry off, leaving his rag dolled body on the floor once again, trying to maintain any semblance of control he had right now. He feels so empty and used, but the swell of his stomach and the tacky fluid stuck to his skin reminds him that he’s not so empty, at least not physically. He’s still reeling as he can feel his own cum mixing with the sweet and fluids on his skin. He doesn’t even get the benefit of a pleasurable orgasm, the embarrassment and shame only accompanied with the sharp stabs in his guts and the throb under his skin.

There’s a crackle of a microphone as the announcer's voice calls out to the arena again, “and still strong as ever, our champion. What endurance! It’s almost a shame that we’re nearing the end of the evening.”

All that Noctis can gain from his statement is that his suffering still hasn’t ended. At this stage it feels like it never will.

\--

“Where the hell is he?” Gladio grumbles, frustration from the hours of searching finally grinding him down to a bitter anger rather than the playful concern he’d started with. 

“It’s been hours and yet we’ve not seen any sign of him… This isn’t good” Ignis say’s with a tight frown.

They’ve walked through what must have been all of Altissia at this stage searching for the Prince and yet they’ve found nothing. There’s a terrible sense of dread hanging over them as they wander the streets looking for him, Ignis and Prompto fearing the worst for Noctis while Gladio is already composing the lecture he plans on giving him when they do find him. Which they’re hoping is soon.

The sun had already set hours ago, and they walk through lantern lit streets searching the faces of everyone they pass looking for him, occasionally stopping to give a brief description to find any potential witnesses to the Prince in his disappearance. They’d already decided that it would be a bad idea to walk around shouting out his name through the streets, since that was the complete opposite of keeping a low profile. They could only hope that he hadn’t been taken by any Niflheim soldiers. 

“I swear to god if that kid isn’t dead when we find him, I’m gunna kill him” Gladio complains again, dragging his feet and sighing exaggeratedly.

“Gladio, this is serious! Noct has never disappeared for this long without reason! Something has happened to him, I’m sure of it” Ignis bites out, tense with nerves and a feeling of guilt like he’s responsible for losing Noctis. 

It was something he should have never overlooked, he should have been more careful about what Noctis was doing when they were in such a foreign place. Even if the bright lights and colourful streets create an inviting atmosphere, Ignis should have known better than to let down his guard, even for a second and now, Noctis was gone.

“I know this is serious! Otherwise I would have gone back to the hotel room already and left him here. You don’t think I know that he’s my responsibility to?” Gladio growls back.

“Well we aren’t going anywhere until we find him, that’s an order” Ignis says, marching down the street with a silent Prompto and Gladio in tow.

\--

“Now this next beast is a gamble people, so make sure you’ve got your bets in already!” the announcer pauses dramatically, scanning the audience before continuing, “Up next, our daemon spider, Arachne! There’s a fifty-fifty chance that the Arachne will either kill him after she’s done, or she’ll try and breed him! Either way this is not the round you want to miss out on so get those numbers rising!”

There’s an increase in the noise the crowds make briefly after the announcer finishes, clearly having piqued their interests again for the next beast. The familiar sound of metal and wood creaking followed by heavy scuffling of pointed appendages moving across the floor only partially draws Noctis exhausted mind to attention. 

The Arachne is faster than Noctis remembers them being, but maybe it’s just him that feels slow comparatively. He feels so empty and hollowed out, like everything has just been ripped out and filled back up with sludge. Though the cum on his thighs is enough of a reminder that he’s already full of something like sludge.

At hearing the odds of the Arachne something deep inside is saying that he hopes it’s death. As much as he knows that can’t be an option with all the weight and responsibilities resting on his shoulders outside of the arena, he so desperately wants this to be over. Even if that means in death. He doesn’t understand what the man means by breed, but he knows enough that it’s something he doesn’t want to happen.

Soon the shadow of the Arachne is cast upon him as he can feel himself being lifted from the ground. He doesn’t bother trying to support himself or struggling, so he hangs limply in the daemon’s strong grip as it lifts him high off the floor to eye at him curiously. Strange chitters and clicks sound from what he can only assume would be her human-looking throat. It seems so wrong for those noises to come from something that looks like that, but they continue as it observes him, face contorted into an angry curiosity. 

Air rushes past him as the six-legged creature carries him to the wall of the arena where it presses his back against the concrete slab as her arms pin him there and her front legs raise to the wall below him. He gasps deeply as she pushes against his chest, holding him still. From where he’s held, just seeing the top half of the beast he could almost convince himself she was just a person, but the white shade of her skin, the chirps of her voice, and the thick skin with coarse bristles jutting from her waist says otherwise. 

She’s clearly impatient to start because her bulbous body is wriggling closer to Noctis, spider legs moving to nudge his own to the side, so she can slip between them. With gravity working against him he can feel the weight of his stomach pulling him down and all the cum inside him leak in heavy rivulets below him, splattering noisily onto the floor with wet drops. When he lifts his head up enough he can see her angular face staring down at him questioningly. 

Her hand comes up and he watches as it comes closer until it lays against his round stomach, surprisingly gentle for such a humongous creature. The pressure grows as she presses her palm into it, making the skin flatten under her hand as Noctis whines. More cum floods out of him messily, his face flushes at the sound of it hitting the floor beneath him. Wet and messy.

She lets out a disgruntled hissing sound as she removes her hand, somehow unhappy with the current state of the body left for her to fuck. Must not be a fan of leftovers either, Noctis’ thoughts supply before he can stop himself. The quantity of other creatures cum inside him is clearly not enough to turn the Arachne off completely, even if she does sound frustrated with the mess, as her body pushes harder against Noctis. 

He’s not sure what he expects from the feminine looking daemon, but the hard-phallic object that slides between his cheeks is not his first guess. It feels incredibly stiff and the top is as wide as the base, it feels like a tube being pushed into his hole. Everything seems to slide into him so easily now that he’s been ripped open so many times, it almost feels like he’ll never go back to the way he was. Like he’ll always stay open and wet and ready to fuck, just like they’ve made him tonight. Just how they wanted him. 

The Arachne’s member is bigger than any of the creatures he’s taken in a long time and the stretch is evident again as she forces the long appendage deep inside him, gravity only serving to slide him down even more. There’s no point in trying to fight this anymore, so even with his arms free he doesn’t try to push the creature away, knowing it will only earn him more pain if he tries to struggle. Instead he lets the Arachne get comfortable inside him, body plaint to her movements and how she adjusts him until she’s buried deep in his guts, thrusting shallowly.

Her whole-body rocks with the thrusts, round abdomen bouncing as she pushes him further up the wall, dragging the many cuts along his back against the hard surface. He hisses at the sharp pain but reacts no more than the grimace on his face as she moves him again. The thrusts are never deep, only ever sliding out the tiniest bit before pushing back in, but the power behind them is enough to knock the breath from his chest. His back slams harder into the wall as she grinds her body into his, 

His mind wanders as she fucks into him harder and harder, where are his friends right now and what are they doing? He hopes they’re looking for him, can only assume with Ignis’ strong overprotective feelings towards him that they wouldn’t have forgotten about him. He knows that they must be worried, but the long hours here have tugged at his heart strings. Do they really care about him? Wouldn’t they have found him by now if they were really worried? Maybe they really are disgusted by him after all. 

Ardyn’s words feel like they’ve been carved into his skin, burning their way into his very mind. Maybe this is all he’ll be good for now, clearly, he wasn’t a strong enough to handle this alone, not strong enough to fight, so all he’s good for is being a toy for someone else’s pleasure. He might not even be able to finish the quest he started after this, the strain on his body making him too weak to even take down the lowest of beasts. Even the imps could hold him down easily. Maybe it would hurt less to just accept this is what he’s become now.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts as a strong gush of fluid fills him, forcing a shout through his strained voice at the sudden burst of it. It’s strong and feels unending as it fills him more. So strong that it feels like it’s trying to force everything inside him out of the way, like it’s trying to overcome the ratio of monster cum with the Arachne’s seed. He can feel the already tight skin of his stomach become even tighter as torrents of cum flow into him. He feels fit to burst with the drum tight skin pulled over his swollen insides. 

By the time the flow eases off and stops he can practically taste cum building in the back of his throat, threatening to come spewing out if anything more tries to force inside. He’s gasping through the throbbing pain of his stomach, the pressure it puts on his lungs enough to make him breathless. Though even through the pain, he’s just thankful that this beast finished so quickly without even hurting him. It seemed impossible that something so terrifyingly huge would leave him unmarked, apart from the distended belly full of cum. 

So, when minutes pass and the Arachne hasn’t moved, Noctis starts to worry. Every beast that had fucked him up to this point left as soon as they came, almost like it was a schedule they understood and worked to. His eyebrows rise up when his mind finally catches up with the reason. The announcer had said it before, Arachne’s will either kill their partner or breed them after sex. 

Noctis peers up at her face carefully, not even able to tell if the hard expression is that of something that’s about to rip his head off and eat it or not. He swallows hard around the lump in his throat, sweat dripping down his skin as he tries to keep his breathes even. The part of his mind that’s ready to end his suffering at any means possible says he’s fine as long as this ends, but his rational mind is starting to kick in, reminding him that dying here is not an option.

It’s still several long minutes until her body rocks against him again, he almost thinks she’ll pull out before he feels something, a bulge against his hole. Inside the thick tube of the Arachne’s cock it doesn’t feel so intrusive, only stretching him slightly wider as it pushes up the length, but when it pops inside he lets out a hard groan. There’s no room left in his stomach right now, guts filled to and then above his limits. Even what must only be something the size of a peach is too much for him to handle. 

His face is contorted in pain and worry as he feels another bulge slip past his opening and work its way inside. His head drops back, and he yells through gritted teeth as the next object drops inside him. His nails dig into the palms of his hands as he tries to work through the pain, but every time one lump enters him another is pushing at his entrance.

“The Arachne has decided to breed our champion! A rare outcome after so many other creatures have come before her as well! She must sense the strength he possesses if she’s choosing to lay her eggs inside him!” that announcer calls happily from above while Noctis moans pitifully from below.

Fuck, Noctis thinks, no fucking way this can’t be happening, but as another egg pops inside him he knows that it is and that he’s helpless to stop it. He still doesn’t fully understand what this means, but he can feel the many eggs inside him shift amongst all the fluid as the Arachne continues its rhythmic pump of eggs inside him. He doesn’t know how many there’ll be, but he knows that it must be lots because the eggs seem unending and her body is so large. 

He whines with every new egg deposited in his full belly, somehow stretching the skin even further. They pump inside him non-stop, and within only a few short minutes he feels like dozens of them have been packed inside him, forcing him to take panting breaths that are laced with heavy moans and wet gags as he tries not to throw up again. He’s so full and round that he looks like an overdue pregnant woman, yet somehow, he can still see it grow steadily with more eggs.

His vision is blurring around the edges and he can feel drool and probably a number of other fluids dribbling from his open mouth as he hangs forward, only barely conscious as his stomach gurgles in protest. He’s crying again, but his face is void of emotion, only a few tears he has left slip down his already tear stained face as his eyes stare off vacantly. With a slight thrust the Arachne pulls out, allowing a heavy flow of cum and eggs to pour out of him. His stomach too tight and full to even hold everything inside anymore, allowing round eggs to slip out of him easily. 

The Arachne is surprisingly unconcerned as she finally takes her leave, gently letting Noctis slide down the wall until he’s on the floor before turning and leaving through the gate. The announcer is speaking again, but Noctis’ ears are ringing as he gasps for breath, back leaning against the wall as he lets his legs fall apart. Whatever the Arachne planned on happening to these eggs wasn’t a concern of his, all he knew was that he didn’t want them inside his body anymore.

With barely enough strength to keep his eyes fully open, he uses his one good arm to push down on the top of his belly, feeling the eggs pop out in rapid succession of each other. They’re thankfully soft and squishy as they drop out of him, supported by the ridiculous amounts of cum. It still hurts unbearably when Noctis pushes on his overstuffed belly, but it seems to be the fastest way of expelling the eggs from within him.

He bares down and pushes against his stomach again, yelled sob breaking free as another flood of eggs comes out. There’s already a pile of dozens of sticky eggs gathered between his thighs as he cries out, pushing more down and out again. There’s definitely a reaction from the crowd, but he ignores it in favour of removing the spider daemon’s eggs from inside him. His stomach slowly deflates as he squishes out the eggs. It’s still round with cum, but when he can no longer feel round lumps shifting inside him or feel anything under his fingers when he pushes them into his skin he drops down lower, sighing as he’s finally rid himself of every egg.

Looking on the floor before him he can see as many as thirty eggs spread out in a wet patch of thick cum. Each is round and a soft pink-red colour, and he feels the need to squish them under his heel. Except his legs shake horribly as they are, and he doesn’t have to strength to do anything to the eggs. He’s just grateful that he got them out and that he no longer has the overwhelming pressure on his stomach making him hold back vomit as he tried to simply breathe. His head still swims in a dizzying way, threatening to black out at any second now. 

Finally, he hears the only positive thing he’s heard all night.

“And now, for our final beast…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy, sorry this chapter is super duper late, but also i promise i've been super busy at work cause of the holidays and that i will try to keep to weekly updates again asap! also we're almost at the end of the monster fucking portion of this fic and then we can move onto the comfort/after care part! yay!!


	6. Chapter 6

“It’s been a long evening full of monsters and daemons, but finally we’ve made it to the end. And with our champion still alive! This has never happened before, and I’m excited to see how this final round turns out! Hopefully you’re all ready for… the Malboro!”

The audience cheers loudly as the announcer riles them up more. He makes them scream and cheer and bet their money, milking the excitement as much as he can for the final round. 

Noctis is pressed against the arena wall, body quivering with every painful breath he takes. He’s still slowly leaking cum into the already excessive puddle on the floor, but he can’t even force his muscles to clench his gaping hole, not that he wants to keep the liquid inside him either. 

Malboro? Noctis tries to think if he knows the beast, but nothing comes to mind as he scrambles through what he remembers of the bestiary. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, he’s guessing that it’s not going to be good for him. He can’t think of anything that a malboro might be, but he also thinks that it won’t matter soon as the gates start to open.

The second they lift off the ground a noxious smelling green gas rolls in across the ground. Noctis coughs and chokes on the thick air that smells like rotting plants and swamp water as it surrounds him. He can barely lift a shaking hand to cover his nose and mouth to try block out the scent, but it doesn’t help much. He can hardly see through his watering and bleary eyes as the gates open fully. Something large and green moves in, movements strange and awkward for something so large with no visible legs. It’s so huge it fills up the entire frame of the door it enters through and spreads out taking over at least a third of the arenas space with it’s coiling limbs. 

That’s one thing Noctis can clearly make out on the monster’s form, hundreds of thick tentacles that coil and bend around its spherical body and a mouth full of bristly looking teeth that is almost as wide as the creature is. Whatever the hell it’s supposed to be it looks like a giant overgrown mutated plant that seems angrier than a sentient plant should be. More green gas pours from it’s wide mouth and spills onto the floor.

A sob breaks free of Noctis’ throat before he’s even aware that he’s reacting to the beast, but the sheer size and mass of the creature is enough to have him cowering against the wall, arm covering his head pathetically. The beast doesn’t have any eyes, so maybe if he’s still enough it won’t see him, at least that’s what Noctis hopes will happen. He can hear the heavy tentacles drag through the dirt, getting further into the arena as it approaches. 

Another dragged out sob escapes as he flinches away from a tentacle that brushes past his foot. It’s obvious the creature notices the touch as well because soon two more tentacles brush past him again, pushing closer every time. He tries to push himself closer to the wall, to try make it like he’s not even there if he can, but the tentacles are rubbing against his legs and slithering closer to him curiously. 

They coil up his legs and he tries to kick them away, but the movements are so weak compared to the giant plant’s grip that it’s like he didn’t do anything at all. Instead they continue in their exploration of his body until there’s a tentacle wrapped around every limb, including his broken arm that flops about. When the tentacle grips it he yells out, wet with tears and tight with fear. His lip quivers as he cries, the beast pulling him closer to it. 

He can feel the strength inside the tentacles, they’re skin is leathery like plant skin and some of the tentacles are as thick as his own waist in girth as they squeeze his body. They all vary in size, but he can’t see any that are thinner than his own thighs, and that only drives more fear through his shaking body at the thought of this creature trying to force anything inside him. 

That doesn’t see to concern the malboro though, because it’s already rubbing the tip of one of those thick tentacles against his hole. It feels cold and sticky as it wriggles against him, teasing at his hole. His breath hitches and he tries to pull his legs together, but the grip is too tight around his limbs for him to budge even a little bit. 

It dips inside a few times, stretching and pulling at the muscle experimentally. Even just the tip of it is already wider than the imps or mindflayer or voretooths were when buried inside him, and he blanches at idea of comparing the numerous dicks he’s taken today. It’s bad enough that he already feels so used to something fucking him in the ass, he doesn’t need to compare how they do it. 

The tentacle slithers deeper inside him, width growing too fast and making Noctis groan as he’s suddenly spread so wide upon it. Other tentacles around his body writhe against his skin and spread their mucous all over him making him feel even more sticky and gross. With the massive tentacle digging around in his insides it almost feels like it’s trying to gather up the generous amount of cum still filling him and soak it up through it’s skin. For something so large and tightly packed in his guts, the tentacles pulls and shoves violently, shifting the skin of his stomach as it makes it expand and shrink with it’s movements. 

He whines and sobs as the harsh fucking only serves to throw his aching body around even more, and the tentacles still wrapped around his limbs try to force him to stay still while the one in his ass forces him to move. Regardless of whether he tries to struggle or stay still, the beast still makes the pain apparent all on its own. 

Looking down was a mistake, a terrible mistake. Not only are the several metres the beast has lifted him off the ground making his already dizzy head swim with vertigo, but he can see the girth of the tentacle pushing into him. He knew it was impossibly wide, it was fucking ripping him apart, but seeing a tentacle thicker than his own thighs forced deep inside him was more than disturbing. Especially when he could see the coil of it rolling under the skin of his round belly, jutting out in areas. 

He doesn’t quite keep back the wet gag his body supplies, tasting the stomach acid covered slime build up in his mouth a little before sitting in the back of his throat. He swallows and coughs, unsure if he wants to force himself to throw up or try to force it back down. Either way his stomach rolls pitifully, sick with too much thick fluids being forced into it. He still feels his head drooping as his body slowly shuts down, finally unable to take more of the unending suffering he’s endured. 

The tentacle gives a few more violent shifts until it rips itself from Noctis’ body, earning a pained scream and a torrent of cum as it seems to have tried to empty out his guts with its slithering limb. The lack of cum unfortunately does nothing to ease Noctis’ stomach, in fact the harsh treatment of the tentacle has only made it worse, throbbing and stabbing in continuous pain. He heaves again as his now emptier stomach clenches hard around the cum still staining his insides.

He knew it wasn’t over, never is until something cums, but he had expected another tentacle to push into him. Instead something round and petal soft is against his cheeks. The softness of it tricks him momentarily, thinking it will be easier to take with the smooth skin of it, but the size of it is so, so much bigger than anything he’s taken all night. Looking between his legs he can see a huge orange oval attached to a thick green tentacle. It’s looks like one of the tentacles grew a flower bud at its tip. 

It’s so round, so massive, it looks like a strange coloured watermelon squeezed between his thighs and there isn’t a single way in hell that creature is shoving it inside him. No fucking way. 

It doesn’t seem to understand that it’s trying the impossible as it rubs against him though, pushing the flowery head between his thighs and up to his crotch. All he can do is stare at it with wide eyes and shake his head, he knows this isn’t going to work. He’d definitely die with something that big inside him, would probably break a hip too. The first thrust goes exactly the way Noctis had expected it to. 

The malboro pushes the round tentacle against him hard and succeeds in only making his whole body bounce rather than getting anywhere near his hole, even if it is gaping open. The second thrust goes much the same way, Noctis bouncing on the head, giant tentacle going nowhere. Then two tentacles are sliding across his ass until they dip into his hole and pull. They pull him open and force his already stretched hole to stay open wider. He gasps in surprise and then relief as he feels the head push up again and slide close to his hole, but still fail to get inside.

Maybe they’ve finally found a creature so gigantic that it physically can’t fuck him, he hopes it will give up soon and leave him alone. He knows it’s the last creature now, so when it leaves, so will he. 

Another tentacle is inside him, pulling him open even wider and making him yell feebly as he’s stretched more. Another thrust up, but this time it doesn’t simply stop when it pushes up against him. The tentacles around his body pull him down while the bulbous head pushes up. He’s groaning hard as he feels the head push up close to his hole again, and he wants it to retreat like it did before, but instead it keeps forcing harder against him. It’s softer than he realised and soon it’s squishing down smaller as the end of it actually fits inside him. He’s yelling frantically when a few inches of it are inside and the other three tentacles yank out to allow his body to close on it tightly. 

He gasps again when it thrusts, this time sliding a little deeper inside instead of just hitting against him. It’s so big, so fucking big he can feel the shape of it moulding to fit inside his pelvis. It was literally filling up the space inside him and he could do nothing but try and keep his brain from exploding at the feeling of bones being forced apart as it made its way inside. The only thing he was grateful for was that it was soft enough to squish down as it went inside, if it hadn’t been he would’ve died with the first thrust, he’s sure of it. In fact, he’s still not sure how he’s alive.

The tentacle stops to wriggle a bit, which was the worst thing it could do right now as it was lodged between his hips. It’s rocking only caused the bones to be pulled more, stretching his muscles and skin so painfully wide as it forced its way inside. Suddenly with another hard thrust the whole thing pops inside, filling out his guts immediately as it reverts to it’s round shape again. He screams hard and loud as his stomach is forced to stretch again around the tentacles bud, eyes going black before his vision fades back in blearily. If he’d looked pregnant before, he looked pregnant with twins now. 

A cruel memory about the old saying to not swallow watermelon seeds crosses his mind as he stares at the watermelon shaped bulge that fills him. It’s obscenely round, forcing the skin on his belly tight and his belly button to stretch. The rest of the tentacle still connects to it and stretches his hole wide, but with the round head nestled inside him he knows it’s not going anywhere. It yanks experimentally, bulbous flower going no where and only tugging Noctis body down hard with it’s movement. 

Now that the tentacle is buried inside him and he’s struggling to gasp air into his lungs, it feels like the bulb inside him is vibrating softly. It’s the strangest fucking feeling, and his head is rolling back now that he has no strength left to hold it up, all his efforts are going into breathing and staying alive. The vibrating is gentle, but still enough to make every organ in his tightly packed stomach shake horribly, bringing on waves of nausea and making his chest feel tight and sore. 

His belly lifts slightly, contents shaking as the bulb inside does something. It feels like a pulse, working through the vibrations. It’s only seconds before it pulses again, visibly expanding his stomach before returning. The pace continues, pulsing every few seconds and making Noctis moan as his belly stretches with the movement. It pulses harder and harder, stretching more each time and making Noctis think for sure he’ll die with the next pulse. The pain is so strong it feels like his stomach will burst open, like all his organs will rupture, like his ribs will be crushed and he’ll choke to death on his own fluids. 

Then it pulses again but stops as it stretches him wide. It doesn’t go back to it’s smaller form, instead holding his skin taught and red and paper thin as it stops moving. He’s staring at his stomach in a morbid fear, mouth open in what he feels like must be a silent scream. Until it becomes a real scream as something inside him just bursts. He screams and screams, loud, pained and terrified as something feels like it’s ripping inside him and a cold liquid pools in. He can’t tell what happened with how strong the pain is. If it was the bulb or one of his own organs, but he screams until there’s no air left in his lungs, until his vision is fading and his body growing heavy. Until his head drops back and his eyes close. Until he finally passes out.

\--

He jolts awake and immediately regrets moving at all as his body throbs from head to toe. He blinks a few times, allowing his vision to clear and focus on his surroundings. For the first time in what feels like an eternity he’s not in the arena. He’s still lying on the ground, but he can see the familiar wall of old weapons and dirty piles of junk that the holding room was adorned with before this whole ordeal started. He shifts his gaze slightly to see the two men that had lead him here standing above him, one tucking a box of smelling salts into his pocket. Noctis groans and squeezes his eyes shut against the immense pain he feels all over.

“Think we overdid it a bit this time?” one of the men says gruffly.

“He’s not dead, that’s already means he’s come out of this better than most of our contestants” the other replies nonchalantly. Noctis shifts a bit, pulling an arm over his aching ribs, “ah, there we go. Awake now are we?”

“Quite the show that was, can’t say I’ve seen anyone take on half the beasts you did. Thought you were a goner with that Malboro, but you somehow managed to pull through in the end.”

There’s a huff and then Noctis can feel hands on him, pulling him into a sitting position. He whimpers loudly when a hand brushes over his left arm.

“Oop, sorry kid. Look’s pretty nasty that arm… might be broken, you probably want to get it checked out” the first man nods, holding Noctis upright as he slumps forward.

“F- Fuck… you” Noctis whimpers out, barely louder than a whisper.

“Hah, yeah, I get that a lot” the man just laughs as he shifts Noctis again in his grip, causing more pain to course through his body. “Hand us some towels, would you? this kid’s a mess…”

Noctis takes the second to look at himself and realise that he’s still very much naked and covered in cum, blood, sweat, dirt and several other fluids all mingling together on his skin. He also notices that his belly is still rounded out and full looking, probably still leaking cum. Worse of all, he can see the insane number of cuts and bruises and deeps gashes that cover every inch of his skin. He looks and feels like he was mauled by animals, which is pretty close to the real truth.

A small damp towel is pressed to his skin, making him hiss as the man starts to rub it over his injuries. He wipes rough and fast over his flesh, not really trying to clean him properly, just trying to remove as much of the stickiness as possible in the short time he wastes rubbing him down. It’s the worst when the towel slides between his thighs. Noctis tries weakly to push the man’s hand away from there, but he’s so weak it does nothing and he rubs the coarse towel against the sensitive skin hard. 

When the towel is dirty and brown the man hands it back and it’s replaced with a handful of clothes that don’t look much cleaner. 

“Sorry, we don’t keep clean changes down here because we don’t usually have any use for them. You’ll just have to settle with these for now since yours were torn apart. Might be a bit banged up, but they’ll cover you” he says as he pulls the pants over his legs.

He can see there’s dried blood and several large holes along the length of the ripped pants and he tries to ignore the fact that these probably belonged to someone who didn’t make it out alive. Then he pulls the shirt over his head, lifting his arms up one at a time to feed through the sleeves of the shirt. He yells loudly as his bruised arm is moved, choking on screams as the muscles and misplaced bones are rubbed against each other. Finally, the shirt is on and he can see that this one is just as dirty and bloody as the pants, massive hole tearing almost half the front of it off. He quickly yanks some almost matching boots onto his feet before stepping back and standing.

“There you go, looking good” the man nods, seemingly satisfied with his work. 

Noctis sways slightly where he sits, unsupported now and barely strong enough to stop himself from falling back. A hand grabs his good arm, thankfully, and pulls him up until he’s standing on two wobbly legs. The two men flank him on either side as the start walking him to the door, though it’s more like dragging with the way Noctis limps slowly. 

“Now, I’m sure I don’t have to warn you not to let word spread about this. It’d be a mighty shame for our great establishment to fall apart now, and I’m sure you don’t want the photos and videos we took to get passed around now, do you?” the man asks gently, but the sharp edge of warning is evident under his tone.

“Ph-photo…?” Noctis wheezes, he hadn’t known there was evidence of tonight left.

“Mmhmm, just a little something we do, sometimes to sell if the night wasn’t so profitable, sometimes just to hold onto as a bit of insurance. I’m sure you understand, and we won’t need to use any of the media we have of tonight. Trust me, you brought in the biggest night of ticket sales we’ve had in months, and that doesn’t even begin to match what we made off the bets alone” the man says in a proud way, opening the old wooden doors that lead back into the streets of Altissia. 

The air is cold, and the sky is a dark inky black with only the lights of street lanterns providing them with sight. Noctis has no idea what time it is, but it must be late since there isn’t a soul on the streets, which is strange for the tourist area of Altissia that usually stays busy well into the night. Noctis stumbles along the stone path, still being lead by the two men. 

“I mean really, you made our sales go crazy tonight, I’d offer you a return show, but I don’t think you’ll take the offer hmm? Not even if I tripled the pay out?” the man says with a twisted smirk.

“I’ll… k-kill you…” Noctis wheezes again, breath hitching as he stumbles down a step.

Again, the man just laughs, “Yep, didn’t think so.”

The continue the slow walk through Altissia’s winding streets, stumbling over cobblestones and practically carrying Noctis’ limp body down flights of stairs. When they accidentally encountered some passersby, the two men simply smiled and lifted Noctis up playfully shaking his limp form as the laughed about him having had ‘one too many drinks at the pub’ earning a knowing smile and nod from the strangers who continued on without question. Noctis hung his head lowly, shame weighing down too much to beg them for help or admit the truth. What would be the point anyway?

After the normally short walk taking twice as long with their slow pace, they finally make it back to the area the market had been set up in. All the tents were gone, and the small vendors were boarded up and closed for the night when they walk back in. The men walk him a little further until they get to a small archway just off the main path. They lower his body down so that he’s leaning against the stone wall before straightening back and stretching lightly.

“you should be fine here, someone will wander past eventually and find you” one of the men nod, seemingly unbothered by leaving him on the streets in the middle of the night.

“Oh, I nearly forgot” the other says, hand digging into his pocket to pull out a small purse that clinks loudly, “your payment, it’s not as much as I’d originally said, because let’s face it you didn’t defeat all the beasts, but you did survive and manage to kill a lot of them as well. Should be plenty.”

He dumps the heavy coin purse on Noctis lap with a grin before the men turn and start to walk back the way they came. Before they get too far one turns around again to smile at him.

“And don’t forget, if you ever want to earn some money, we’ll always be happy to have you again, Prince Noctis.”

They turn and walk away into the empty streets while Noctis sits there frozen. There’s nothing he can do, nothing he could say to change any of this. He fucked up. He fucked up so bad and now he has to suffer the consequences. He leans his head back against the wall and sobs, tears finally having dried up, but he still cries. Hiccupped breaths and sniffles like a panicked child as he curls around his broken body, hoping for some comfort in the cold night air. He closes his eyes and expects to stay here until the sun rises, the chances of someone coming past here and stopping to help him seem nearly impossible and there’s no way he’d make it to the hotel by himself. 

He pulls up his knees and tries to let his mind go blank, hoping to forget everything. All that crosses his mind seem like nightmares. 

\--

“We’re back at the market again?” Prompto asks with a sigh, dragging his tired legs up the stairs for the hundredth time today.

“Maybe we overlooked something in the crowds, it’s empty now so there might be some clue that was hidden before” Ignis explains, sounding more paranoid than ever.

“Ignis, you know that sounds crazy, right?” Gladio says, looking tired and frustrated for once in his life.

“It’s the only thing I can think of at the moment- wait, did you hear that?” Ignis raises his hand, stopping everyone in their tracks and he looks around.

“Hear what?” Prompto asks, looking over Ignis’ shoulder.

There’s a sound like a low moan, tired and distressed coming from nearby. “That!” Ignis says again when he hears the noise.

Gladio pushes forward and listens carefully, eyes scanning the poorly lit courtyard. He pauses and squints into a dark corner, a small archway just on the other side of the path. There’s a shadow on the ground that looks human shaped and as he stares at it curiously another moan is heard, this one high and strained, sounding more like a wail. 

“There’s someone over there…” Gladio warns.

“Could it be Noctis?” Ignis asks, hope rising in his voice, he rushes forward without waiting or listening to Gladio protests. Prompto and Gladio rush to keep up with the man’s sudden energy.

“Noctis?” Ignis calls as he approaches the stone wall the body is propped against.

Gladio and Prompto are standing behind him when they finally reach the figure. Prompto gasps loudly and Gladio curses when they see the poor slumped body against the wall. Ignis kneels down slowly in front of him, hand reaching out slowly, unsure if he should touch or not.

“Noctis…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we did it! or Noct did it? anyway he survived and made it out and now the boys are here to help!! so this is the end of our monster fucking adventure and the beginning of our aftercare portion of the fic! yayyy


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy sorry that the chaps a little late but I just keep writing and rewriting bits of this chapter because I kept changing my mind on how everyone should act or what they should do but I hope I've finally got a good direction going. I also posted a drawing of Noctis with a chart of the major injuries he has to help if anyone is interested it's on my tumblr! so if you wanna look that's there, obvs it's nsfw, but yeah have fun!
> 
> https://ohmyguts.tumblr.com/post/172510545565/ok-so-i-wanted-to-upload-this-alongside-a-chapter

“…Noctis? Noct, can you hear me?” Ignis asks, hand finally brushing against the bruised face of his prince. He groans at the touch eyes squinting open and slowly trailing up from the floor to look at Ignis’ face.

“I-Iggy…” Noctis sighs, voice quiet and rough like he’s losing his voice, his lips start to quirk into a smile before his face pulls back into one of despair as he lets out a hard sob.

“Oh, god. Noct… what- what happened?” Ignis says, looking over his slumped form.

Noctis is- his injuries are more than Ignis can bare to look at. There’s a huge purple bruise over his right cheekbone and a multitude of scratches across his face that make it look like he’d been hit an awful few times. It only gets worse as his eyes scan down. 

Immediately Ignis spots that his clothes aren’t his own, dirty brown pants and a shirt that might have once been white cover his body, or at least try to. There are several large tears that only give way to even more injuries that litter his body. He can see what looks like bite marks across his neck, sharp and scabbed over, and too angular to be human teeth. 

His left arm looks wrong, like his shoulders are mismatched in a way that isn’t just from him leaning to the side. There’s a definite jut out that looks like bone, while the rest of the limb flops loosely by his side. It’s hanging lower than his other arm as well, and the dark purple bruises that spread from his neck all the way to his elbow show that it’s been like that for quite some time. There are deep gashes and scratches all up his arms as well, and Ignis can only assume that what’s under his clothes isn’t much better.

Noctis wheezes deeply, and god, Ignis hopes that wheeze isn’t the sound of a collapsed lung by the way Noctis grips at his ribs. He opens and shuts his mouth a few times before simply looking at the floor and whispering, “I fu- fucked u-up…”

There’s a thump on Ignis’ side and when he turns he finds Prompto kneeling beside him, tears already running down his face as he stares at his best friend in disbelief. 

“N-Noct” he whines, crawling forward to hold his face in his hands, rubbing his thumb gently across the skin. Noctis slowly brings his right hand up, shaking horribly as he goes, until he rests it on top of Prompto’s. There’s a moment of silence between the two of them as they stare at each other and cry.

“S-sorry…” Noctis whispers. 

“No!” Gladio says too firmly for the moment, voice echoing into the night, “don’t fucking say that… not when you look like that…”

Gladio has turned away, face downcast as he can’t even bare to look at the Prince’s battered body. He feels a horrible sense of guilt for not trusting Ignis when he said something was wrong. This must be his fault.

Ignis turns back to Noctis, still trying to tally up the countless wounds on his body when he spots a leather pouch in his lap. He lifts it up, listening to the metal clink together as he moves it. If he had to guess, he would say it was full of coins.

“What is this?” he asks cautiously, holding the bag out for Noctis to see.

He glances at it and sucks in a wheezy breath that might have been an attempt at laughter, “my r- reward” he manages to say.

The statement both shocks and confuses the three of them. What the hell happened that had ended up with Noctis lying beaten in an alley in the early morning with a bag of Gil as a reward. It makes Ignis sick to think about what monsters would have done something like this to Noctis, to anyone. Noctis winces and groans, pulling himself into a tighter ball against the wall, and Ignis remembers that they need to get him off the streets. 

“We should get back to the hotel… can you walk, Noct?” Ignis asks gently, hand softly petting his hair.

Noctis head shakes a little, a small whine escaping his throat. It makes everyone’s faces go dark when he admits that, how badly was he beaten that he can’t even walk?

“…Help me lift him” Ignis says to Prompto as they shift to Noctis’ sides.

They try to find somewhere to hold him that doesn’t cause him pain, but literally everywhere they put their hands causes him to hiss and whimper. So, they settle for gently supporting him under his arms and around his ribs. 

“Watch his left arm” Ignis warns as they get ready to lift him. Prompto nods, he doesn’t question the statement when he see’s the bruised limb hang awkwardly. 

They heave him up, earning several loud cries along the way until they’re holding his limp body upright. His knees are already folding beneath him, and Ignis and Prompto are struggling to keep him upright. 

“Iggy, what…” Prompto says, eyes wide as he stares down at his friend’s body. The shirt he’s wearing is missing a solid portion of it’s hem and it does little to cover Noctis’ stomach, which is jutting out disturbingly on his skinny form. Ignis tries to think of what could have cause it to become distended like that but can think of nothing at the moment to explain it. He decides to worry about it after they get him to safety.

“Gladio, can you carry him?” Ignis asks, voice straining with effort.

Gladio finally turns to look at the three of them, eyes wet with tears that no one mentions. He nods quickly before gently waving Prompto away to step beside Noctis and pull his arms around his back and legs, lifting him as carefully as he can. Ignis steps forward to adjust him carefully, making sure nothing is being crushed or strained in Gladio’s hold. 

“His arm, Gladio… does it look broken to you?” Ignis asks carefully, and Prompto clasps a hand over his mouth behind him, eyes squeezed shut as he tries to hold back tears at the thought of how Noctis ended up like this.

Gladio stares down at the arm curiously before turning back to Ignis, “can’t say for sure like this, but it looks more out of place than broken. Could be his shoulder, we won’t know till I can look at it properly.”

Ignis just nods, it’s not the definite answer he wanted, but it will do for now. They walk slower than they would like to back to the hotel, Gladio taking careful steps not to move Noctis too much and Prompto and Ignis hover over him, trying to comfort Noctis any way they can. Gently brushing back his sticky hair and telling him they’re almost back, it’s not far now. 

The concierge gives them a concerned look when the four of them hurry into the foyer, but they pay them no mind as they move up the stairs to their room, shielding Noctis with their bodies. Ignis unlocks the door and holds it open for everyone to move inside. Gladio is already laying Noctis down on the bed carefully when Ignis closes the door. 

“We need to treat his wounds, it doesn’t look like a single one has been cleaned or cared for. Prompto, bring me all the potions we have please” Ignis says, pulling his jacket off and rolling up his sleeves as he grabs their first aid kit. 

Prompto hurries over to the small pile of bags they have on the ground that they keep back up provisions in, pulling out as many potions as he can find and pilling them up beside him. Gladio moves out of Ignis’ way to go help Prompto while Ignis gets set up beside the bed. He opens up the first aid kit before turning to Noctis.

“I’ll need to remove your clothes to treat the wounds, Noct” Ignis says, kneeling by his side. Noctis nods slowly, eyes shut as he tries to mentally prepare himself for his friends’ reaction to his messed-up body. 

Ignis pulls out some scissors from the first aid kit and starts to cut up the disgusting clothes so that he can peel them off Noctis’ body without causing him further harm. Noctis whimpers when the item is removed, hand clenching by his side as his naked chest is exposed. Ignis can’t hold back his gasp when he sees him.

He can count as least seven bite marks of varying sizes all over his torso, and several long gashes as well. There is a significant chunk of skin missing from just below his rib on his left side, it’s almost like something just tore through the muscle. 

He can see just how misplaced his left arm looks, and the right arm isn’t much better. Without the shirt sleeves covering it he discovers a large hole that goes right through the middle of his bicep. The wound seems mostly congealed and scabbed, but there are still red fleshy portions of it that are fresh with blood. He can even see torn muscle and what he really, really hopes isn’t bone when he looks into the wound. The wound is about an inch in diameter and looks rough and ripped around the edges. It’s a wonder he didn’t bleed out from the injury alone, but Ignis keeps looking at his misplaced arm with concern. Bruised and limp by Noctis’ side.

He also notices the disturbing roundness of Noctis’ stomach, how it curves out oddly on his previously toned form. The skin seems red and irritated across his stomach. Ignis can’t come up with a single idea to what happened to cause this, but he doesn’t think it will be a good thing.

Ignis’ stomach feels heavy like it’s turned to stone, what the hell happened to him that he’s this badly hurt? He’s never seen Noctis in this much pain in his life.

“Noct… how- how did this…” Ignis stops himself, not sure if it’s too soon to be asking, but he needs to know. Needs to understand where he went wrong in protecting him.

Noctis opens his eyes slowly, peering up at Ignis face and praying that he doesn’t see the sneer of disgust he thought might be there. Instead he finds a distraught, teary eyed Ignis looking down at him in pity. Which isn’t much better but at least it means he cares.

“M-made a bad decision… trusting strangers” Noctis says quietly, voice tired and rough.

“What?” Gladio says quietly, but with a sharp sound of anger behind it that makes Noctis flinch.

“Who did this to you, Noct?” Ignis says, hand lightly caressing his face.

“…Don’t know who they were, but…” he stops to drag in a breath, “they promised me money, if I could fight monsters. Sounded like a normal hunting job at first… wasn’t.”

“So, this…” Ignis says, eyes glancing down to his body and the many wounds littering his skin, “all this…was beasts?

Noctis nods slowly. He’s trying his hardest not to cry again, he doesn’t want to cry anymore but the sad stares his friends are giving him, their wide-eyed shock, it’s making him afraid all over again. He wants to curl up and hide himself from them, to bury under the covers and disappear, but his body is too sore to do even that.

He can feel Ignis’ eyes watching him, assessing every wound and scratch and bruise and, his stomach. He almost wants to try cover it with his hands to hide it from his stare, but any movement will only draw more attention to it, so he remains still. He closes his eyes and turns his head away, hoping Ignis doesn’t ask another question.

“…Gladio, can you help me with his arm?” Ignis ask turning to face the man, Noctis lets out a soft breath.

Gladio walks over with a nod and comes to sit on the edge of the bed. He tries to look at the arm while Noctis is lying down, but he knows that he won’t be able to tell much of the injury like this. He sighs, knowing that he’s going to cause Noctis more pain. 

“Sorry, Noct. Need you to sit up for this one” he says apologetically, shuffling forward to scoop his arms under Noctis’ back and lift him up until he’s sitting up on the bed. Ignis moves closer to put a hand on his back to keep him upright while Gladio inspects the arm. As soon as Ignis is behind him, hand hovering over the skin, he pulls away in shock. Looking down to find four long, deep gashes running from one side of Noctis waist to the other. There are even more scratches and bites along his back too, but the ones right across the middle of it are the largest and most painful looking. 

“Gladio…” Ignis gasps, and Noctis whimpers in response, knowing exactly what he sees. Or at least remembering how it felt when the behemoth clawed into his skin. 

Gladio leans back and swears loudly when he sees the state of his back. It looks like he’d been fucking flogged, but worse because the wounds were longer and deeper than any whip could go. Neither of them says anything as Gladio moves back to the purpled arm, gently touching it to feel for the bones.

Noctis grits his teeth and groans through the prodding, trying to not let the pain get to him, but even the gentlest touch hurts so badly he sees stars. It’s a few more minutes of torture until Gladio sits up with a sigh.

“Definitely dislocated his shoulder, it doesn’t appear broken anywhere, but I can’t guarantee that. His shoulder needs to be set back into place though, which I can do, but it’s going to hurt a lot” Gladio says with an angry scowl.

Noctis just nods sadly, already resigning himself to pain and suffering at this stage. At least he knows he’s in good hands now and can trust that any pain they cause him is only them trying to help. It doesn’t do much to make his racing heartbeat calm a little at the thought of more pain though.

“Wait… wait, this doesn’t seem like a good idea. His injuries… they’re too great, he needs a hospital. I can’t guarantee our skills will be enough here” Ignis says, stopping Gladio from doing anything else. 

“Are you crazy? We’re in a different nation right now, one we aren’t even allowed to be in because we’re technically fugitives, and you want to walk the Prince of Lucis right into a hospital?” Gladio hisses, trying to not raise his voice, but coming out just as angry and venomous anyway. “We don’t have any identification either, so it’ll take them all of three seconds to call the Nifs on us and even quicker for them to take us into custody when they realise we’re with Noctis. Is that what you want? Because that’s what’s going to happen if we take him to a hospital!” 

“I’m just saying he needs medical attention, one I’m not sure we’re qualified to provide! Potions can only go so far! Are you really willing to risk his life over this?” Ignis barks back, both their own protectiveness and need to help ramming heads with their opposing beliefs on what’s right.

“It’d be risking his life more if we walk him right into a government run facility, you think we’ll be protected just because we had the Secretary on our side?”

“He needs help” Ignis says firmly, eyes trained on Gladio.

“Do you even know-” Gladio starts, but a hand smacks him lightly against his chest and he looks down to find Noctis’ hand there, body quivering just with the effort of pulling his arm up to Gladio’s chest. 

“N-no… hospital…” Noctis mumbles, sounding like he’s barely staying awake. 

The two men fall silent as they look down at Noctis, having forgotten about his opinion in the argument of what’s right. Ignis just nods, yielding to his request quickly. He’s not about to force Noctis back into the night air if that’s not what he wants. They’ll just have to manage alone.

“…Alright, no hospital. Do you have everything you need to put the arm back in place, Gladio?” Ignis asks.

“Don’t need much, but maybe something for Noct to bite on, might help a bit with the pain” Gladio says, sounding more gentle than usual.

“…Of course,” Ignis says as he quickly moves to the bathroom and returns with a small washcloth, “Here.”

Noctis takes the cloth but says nothing. Gladio scoots forward until he’s right next to Noctis’ arm. He takes it by the elbow and wrist, lifting carefully until the arm is bent and held close to his waist. Ignis sits himself beside Noctis, taking his other hand and petting his hair softly while Gladio moves his arm. 

“Try keep your shoulders straight, it’ll be harder to get it back in if you slump” Gladio says, pausing his movements to wait for Noctis to push his shoulders back slightly, “That’s better, hold it there okay.”

“Ok, nice and still….” Gladio says softly, he pushes his elbow against his waist while slowly rotating the arm out to the side, Noctis bites down on the cloth as he feels the muscles pull and resist the movement, “Good, almost there, okay?”

Gladio’s hand grips his bicep as gently as he can manage and starts to rotate it in towards Noctis’ body and then pushes the whole arm back trying to get the bones to click back into place. Noctis groans and Gladio knows he’s hurting him, the arm was badly dislocated and had clearly been left like that for a long time. Judging by how beat up Noctis was, it was definitely made worse by the rough treatment after the dislocation happened too.

The bones are far put of place and it takes a few tries of twisting his wrist out and elbow in and forcing the arm to move into position until finally Noctis yelps as the bone returns to the socket and he finally relaxes his shoulders, slumping into Ignis.

“All done, it’s all over. Good work, Noct. Sorry it hurt so much” Gladio says, petting his hair gently, “Try move your fingers a little.”

Noctis lifts his head enough to stare down at his hand and watch as his fingers flex and curl at his command. He sighs in relief. He’d forgotten how nice it felt to have control of the limb, but he was just relieved to be able to move it again. 

Gladio sighs as well, thumb wiping across Noctis’ forehead, “Thank the six, it’s set properly.”

Prompto finally hobbles over, arms full of potions and elixirs that he dumps onto the bed beside Gladio.

“Wait” Ignis says, stopping Gladio as he picks one up to hold over Noctis’ arm, “I don’t want to give him a potion yet, there’s still dirt in his wounds and I’m afraid that if we don’t get it out before we start closing them we’ll risk an infection. They’ve already been open for too long now.”

“Seriously? Like the kid isn’t in enough pain already…” Gladio sighs.

“I know. I’m sorry Noct, I’ll need you to hold on a little longer” Ignis says apologetically.

“S’fine, just hurry” Noctis mumbles, face still pressed to Ignis’ chest.

“Are there more injuries on your legs, Noct?” Ignis asks.

He takes a moment to nod back. He knows very well there are plenty that need to be fixed along his thighs, but the thought of exposing himself to them is too terrifying. He knows there won’t be any way to pretend this wasn’t a sexual attack when they see the marks. When they see the cum that still leaks slowly from his red, abused hole. He doesn’t want them to see that.

“Then I will need to remove your pants as well” Ignis says softly, not sounding enthusiastic about the idea himself. 

“N-no, wait. You don’t- it’s fine. Not that bad…” Noctis lies, not even slightly convincing anyone in the room after seeing the gaping wounds across his body that his legs could possibly be not that bad.

“It’s alright, Noct. I only need to treat the wounds, I don’t want to hurt you” Ignis attempts to reassure him.

“P-please, I don’t want-- don’t want you to see that…” Noctis says, voice tight with panic, his face scrunched in frustration. He hates that they’ve already seen him in such a state already, he knows it will only become worse if he has to take all his clothes off in front of them. The taunting sounds of their voices echo in his head along with a phantom throb inside him.

“Noct, it’s okay, we’re here-”

“No! please, I don’t- can’t do it! Please, it’s too much-” Noctis whines, voice hitching with sobbed breaths. He’s curling into himself, arms pulling tight around his body as he shakes violently. Everyone watches in fear as he seems to crumble before their eyes.

“Okay! It’s okay” Ignis says, hand gently petting at Noctis’ hair, but he pulls back when he flinches at the touch. “Would it be alright if it was just me? No one else has to see you if that’s what you want, but I need to treat your wounds.”

Noctis sits quietly, breathing hard into his crossed arms that are folded over his knees. He can feel more cum leak out of him as he tries to fold his body up smaller, forcing pressure on his still round belly. He loathes the idea that any of his friends would see him like this, but he also knows that there’s no way Ignis will drop the matter when it comes to his health. It takes him a moment of silence before he can accept that he will inevitably have to let Ignis clean the many wounds across his thighs and lower body.

“…The bathroom. I want to go to the bathroom first” Noctis says.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?” Ignis asks curiously, unsure what Noctis is requesting.

“Shower… I need a shower.”

“This moment? I mean, the wounds do need to be cleaned, but a shower might be a little much at the moment. It would be better if I just disinfected the wounds down outside of the shower” Ignis ponders.

“No, a shower. Need one” Noctis says firmly, not yielding to Ignis requests. The look on his face makes Ignis stop, not understanding why it was so important, but knowing that Noctis is unlikely to give up.

“…Of course, allow me to assist you then” Ignis gives in, holding his hands out to help Noctis stand. He supports his weight as they shuffle the few feet towards the bathroom in the lavish hotel room, leaving Prompto and Gladio to stare at them in a quiet concern.

Ignis kicks the door shut behind him as they walk into the bathroom and helps him to sit down on the lid of the toilet. He crouches before him, staring up into Noctis’ downturned face.

“Now, you can’t shower with you pants on, may I help you now?” Ignis asks gently, waiting patiently for Noctis to respond.

Noctis shuffles uncomfortably on the seat, hard porcelain pressing into his sore body and making it ache worse. After a moment he shakes his head at Ignis, who’s eyebrows raise in confusion until he sees Noctis’ hands are at the waist of his pants, shuffling out of them slowly. 

Ignis turns to look away, giving him what little privacy he can offer while he removes the item. Sliding the pants off while sitting proves harder than Noctis thought and he has to shift and raise his hips to slide them down enough to pull off. 

Ignis glances over quickly, not prying but merely checking on whether he needed help or not. Instead he spots the terrible state his lower body is in as well. He turns with a small gasp as he stares down at the new jagged hole that goes through the middle of his thigh and the smattering of bites, scratches, and purple bruises that build around his hips and fan out down his legs.

“Noct, what- Gods, what happened to you?” Ignis says in quiet disbelief.

Noctis startles when he realises Ignis is watching him, moves to cover himself but he’s not even sure what to cover first. Instead his hands just shake in front of him as he drops the filthy pants to the floor. 

“…Do- do you really want to know?” Noctis says, eyes creased in fear and lips quivering as he looks up at the man that’s taken care of him since he was a child.

“Please, Noctis. I need to know what happened. Who did this to you? Why?” Ignis says, his voice cracks just slightly, but it’s the first time Noctis has ever heard him sound so worried before. He knows it’s genuine. 

“…Don’t know who they were. Shouldn’t have trusted them either…” Noctis says, staring down at the clean tiles beneath his feet. “Said I looked like a hunter, offered me money to kill some beasts. I… I don’t know why I agreed, guess it didn’t sound so bad the way they put it…”

“This can’t be from a hunt, what did they do to you?” Ignis asks with a confused tilt to his head.

“No… wasn’t a hunt, more like a slaughter. In the Totomostro, they wanted me to fight the beasts, but…” Noctis stops, takes a shaky breath as his hands clench into fists. He doesn’t even know if he can say it.

“It’s alright, take your time” Ignis says soothingly, patiently waiting for Noctis to speak again.

“They…” His voice pitches high like he’s going to cry again, and he’s sure he will when the word tastes like bile on his tongue. “They… r-raped me…”

His breaths are loud and uneven in the quiet room, he can’t even hear Ignis’ breathing as he tries to keep his heart from beating out of his chest. His face crumbles into a distraught scowl as his shoulders fold in more, Ignis can only watch as the Prince collapses in on himself. Gasping breathes shaking his body.

Ignis is trying to process the words that came out of Noctis mouth. How. How could this happen. How could he let this happen? 

“…The men… they did this to you?” Ignis asks cautiously, it doesn’t seem possible or at least he doesn’t want it to be. He wants this to be a horrible nightmare that he’ll wake up from soon.

“N-no… the b-beasts did…” Noctis admits quietly.

If Noctis hadn’t been sitting on the toilet lid in that moment, Ignis is sure he would be head first in it throwing up his dinner. The thought alone makes his stomach sink with an impossible dread. 

He can’t even think of a way to respond to that news, even if Noctis is practically cowering in front of him, needing to be cared for and helped through this. But he simply can’t. His mind can’t fathom what must have happened to Noctis. He doesn’t want to think about it at all, but now with Noctis’ naked form in front of him, with every scar, bite, bruise, scratch and hole torn into his skin, he can’t stop himself. 

“I- Noctis, I-” Ignis tries, but he simply can’t speak. Nothing he can say can fix this. “I-I’m sorry we found you so late…”

Noctis shakes his head, a whimper coming out instead of words as he clings to himself more and it hurts too much to see the once proud, playful Prince look so utterly defeated. Ignis scrubs at his face, pushing up his glasses to rub the tears from his eyes as he stands again.

“…Let’s get you cleaned up” he says sombrely, offering a hand to Noctis.

“Please” Noctis mumbles wetly with his head still buried in his arms, “Please don’t tell the others…”

“Of course I won’t, it’s up to you who knows” Ignis nods, “I’m… so sorry. Thank you for being brave enough to tell me.”

Noctis says nothing, just breathes harshly while he waits. Ignis takes his hands and helps him stand so that he can step over the edge of the bathtub. Once inside he lowers himself to sit down, gasps when he feels the cold, hard porcelain against his skin. Bites his lip when he feels the cum leak from inside him.

Ignis turns on the water, letting it run until it’s warm. He doesn’t plug up the tub or let Noctis sit directly under the spray, instead wetting a cloth and bringing it up to wipe at his body. Noctis jumps at the touch and retreats a little further into the tub with a quiet “don’t” and Ignis freezes instantly.

“I-I’m sorry, Noct. I shouldn’t-” Ignis feels horrible, all he wants to do is help. To hold Noctis and make everything disappear, but even his gentle touches hurt him. In more than just physical ways.

“It’s okay… just- let me do it, please…” Noctis says, huddled against the side of the tub.

“Of course” Ignis nods, letting him take the towel for his outstretched hand.

Noctis slowly starts to scrub down his body, carefully avoiding rubbing directly over any wounds. He wipes as much of the dirt and bodily fluids off him as he can manage. The only thing stopping him from scrubbing at his filthy skin frantically is the immense pain he feels when the warm water washes over his cuts. 

He’s grateful to find that Ignis has turned away, giving Noctis the privacy to clean himself without fear of judging eyes. He sucks in a deep breath before moving to wipe between his thighs. He hasn’t seen what it looks like between his legs, hasn’t really seen what he looks like all together actually, but it can’t be good. Somehow it manages to be worse.

Something between a gasp and dry heave escapes him as he finally dares to look. He shouldn’t be surprised really, yet seeing how red and swollen the skin is, seeing the dried blood and cum still stuck to his skin, how wide he was ripped open. It only brings back all the sensations from the arena back in full force and suddenly Noctis feels like there’s a vice grip around his ribs closing in on him and forcing all the air out of his lungs.

He drops the towel with a wet slap as it hits the tub, breath coming in short and fast and panicked. His hands come up to touch his stomach, and he whines at the feeling. He needs it to stop. Needs everything inside him gone, like it was never there. He presses the heel of his palm deep into the skin of his stomach and pushes down until he can feel the burst of cum pool into the tub. He yells weakly at the feeling but doesn’t stop as a hysterical determination urges him to rid himself of the fluids.

Ignis hears his breathing increase first, worry building in his chest and when he hears the yells and groans he whips around to see Noctis is clearly hurting himself with the way he pushes on his stomach. He quickly turns around to grab at his wrists and pulls them away from his body, even when Noctis only fights more against the grip.

“Noctis! Stop that, you’ll only hurt yourself more!” Ignis pleads urgently, trying to hold back Noctis from harming himself.

“No! I need it out! I don’t want it inside me! I hate it!” Noctis yells back, pulling weakly against Ignis hold as he yells more. 

“Need what out?” Ignis says, pausing to actually figure out the cause of Noctis’ panic. He’s not sue where his determination came from, but he’s curious to learn.

“The cum! It’s still in me and I hate it!” Noctis sobs, head dropping down as he loses the strength to keep fighting against Ignis, who’s slowly letting his hands slip from his grip anyway.

“…What” Ignis says, not for clarification, but in disbelief. He finally has the answer to why his stomach had become so distended, and he wishes he didn’t.

“E-every single one of them… came inside me…” Noctis admits so quietly it’s just a whisper. 

Ignis is incredibly impressed with himself for not having thrown up now just from the thought of what Noctis has been through. He knows after Noctis is safe and cared for he will probably spend the remainder of the night crying with a bottle of overpriced whisky that was in the hotel refrigerator. However, right now he needed to be strong for Noctis. To put his needs above his own like he always did. That was his job, and tonight he’d failed it horribly.

“…Let me help you, we can get all of the- everything out of you without hurting yourself, okay?” Ignis says as calmly as he can manage, “I promise you I don’t want to cause you any pain or discomfort, and if you tell me no I will stop immediately. Is that alright?”

Noctis head lifts slowly, takes in Ignis’ worried face and considers his options. He has very few. Ignis is unlikely to just leave him there to deal with this in his own way, but at least he’s promised that he won’t do anything Noctis doesn’t want him to. It gives him a small amount of reassurance, but there’s still an underlying fear that those hands could turn sinister at any moment. He decides he trusts real Ignis more than he does fake Ignis.

“O-okay. I want your help” Noctis says slowly, facing Ignis again properly.

Ignis nods again, a small, pitiful smile crossing his face. This long night isn’t over yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so so so so so so so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! I thought I'd have time last weekend to write it but then I got like the worst con hangover ever and was asleep at like 9pm every night so woops!

“I don’t believe there is any comfortable or easy way of removing the… to get all of it out from inside of you. I’m afraid I may have to cause you more discomfort in order to help” Ignis sighs, sounding just as nervous and exhausted as he looks.

“Just help me, please” Noctis whines, his body shivering in the cold bathroom air.

“I will, Noct. I promise” Ignis nods, hand gently smoothing back his dark hair from his face. Usually the prince would detest this move, grumbling about liking the way his hair was even if it made it look like he’d just crawled out of bed. Somehow Ignis already missed it when he would.

Ignis glances around the bathroom trying to find the things he’ll need to help Noctis, he knows that the fastest way of removing the fluids will be to try flush them out, but he also knows how uncomfortable it will be for Noctis. He can only hope that he can get this over with quickly.

He finds the shower head to have a hose attachment and removes it from the wall. He unscrews the shower head from the hose and tests the water flow coming out of it, adjusting so that it is lukewarm and a calm flow. All the while Noctis follows his every move, eyeing him with caution.

“I think the easiest way to clear everything out will be to flush it out with water. It will probably be uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t hurt” Ignis says softly, watching for Noctis reaction.

Noctis’ face pulls into a grimace as the purpose of the hose dawns on him. He’s had enough crap shoved inside him tonight, the thought of anything else going in him is so horrible he feels sick to his stomach. 

“No. No, there has to be something else” Noctis whines, shaking his head as much as he can, “anything, please just not that...”

“I understand your discomfort, but this will be the fastest way to clear it all out. Pushing on your stomach will only cause you more pain and risk damaging something internally if you work the organs too hard, and the only other option is to just wait for it to come out on its own. I know none of them are appealing options…” 

Ignis sighs. He doesn’t want to do this to Noctis, doesn’t want this to be how his terrifying night comes to an end, but there’s only so much Ignis can do to help him. He can only hope to make this as quick and painless as he possibly can so that he can try get Noctis into a safer more comfortable place. 

“I promise you that I won’t do anything without your permission, just tell me and I will listen” Ignis tries to reassure him again, understanding the shake in his shoulders and the dark fear in his eyes when Noctis looks at him. It’s almost like he can’t quite see Ignis in front of him, like he’s trying to make himself believe he’s safe when he’s not sure he is. It breaks his heart to see him like this.

“…You promise it will be over quickly?” Noctis says softly, his voice is slowly fading into a raspy croak the more he speaks. It’s likely he won’t have a voice at all soon.

“As quick as I can make it, yes” Ignis nods, fingers smoothing against his scalp again in what he can only hope is a soothing way, even if his hair is clumped together with dirt and sticky fluids that Ignis’ refuses to name.

“…O-okay” Noctis nods. He can’t look Ignis in the face when he agrees, but it’s all he can manage at the moment. It scares him to think what Ignis could possibly be thinking of him right now. That he’s disgusting or pathetic, that he’s an idiot for ever letting this happen. That he’s weak, and unfit to be king.

“Try resting your elbows on the edge of the bath” Ignis says, guiding Noctis to lean forward until his arms were folded along the bath’s edge and he rested on his knees. 

“Are you alright for me to start now?” Ignis asks cautiously, remaining as still as possible until Noctis makes his decision. A small nod and a quiet “yes” and Ignis nods in return. 

“My apologies then” Ignis says as he brings the flow of water closer to Noctis. He has to lean over the tub to see what he’s doing as he manoeuvres closer. Ignis has to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying anything when he see’s Noctis’ backside, he didn’t think there could be anything more shocking than the injuries he’d already seen covering every inch of his skin, yet somehow this managed it. He couldn’t bare to look at it, but he sucked in a breath and continued on with a steel resolve. Later, he thought, I can think later, first I must act. 

At first, he just lets the warm water wash over the skin, Noctis jumping at the feeling until he calms at the gentle flow. It slowly helps wash away the filth that clings to his skin and the dried blood that flakes off. When he feels like most of his backside is cleaned of any mess he moves forward to his hole. Ignis’ throat is tight with disgust and anger at the sight of it, the red, torn skin, the purpled bruises, and the steady leak of off-white fluids dripping against the porcelain tub is enough to make Ignis want to run into the streets of Altissia and scream until he can’t scream anymore.

There’s an uncontained sob as the hose presses against Noctis and he can feel the water flow inside him. He buries his face in his arms and bites his cheek to try and stop anymore sounds coming out, especially when Ignis apologises again and lets his hand pet at his forearm gently. He hates this. He hates it so much. The moment is too intimate, too close to Noctis that it makes him feel even more violated than when crowds of strangers were watching him choke on a daemon’s cock. 

Ignis waits a few moments before gently moving the hose away, allowing the now tainted water to flood out into the base of the tub. He waits for the flow to stop before repeating the action, allowing warm water to help clear out as much as it can for Noctis. He can see the muscles in Noctis’ shoulders tense every time he brings the hose up to his skin, and he honestly can’t tell if it’s because it hurts or because he’s afraid. So, he just keeps petting and holding his hands and arm as gently as he can, hoping it’s enough to keep him calm.

Noctis is breathing heavier now, trying to remind himself constantly that the hand on his skin is Ignis and the flow of warmth in his guts is just water, but his lip still quivers, and his stomach churns every time those two sensations synch up. He can feel the water slowly pulling all the cum out of him, but it’s agonizingly slow, and there’s still so much left in him that he can feel sitting heavily in his guts that he’s starting to think it will never fully come out.

It’s just water, he repeats to himself, Ignis is only trying to help. He repeats the words over and over in his head trying to calm the fear that grips his chest so tightly. He doesn’t want to make Ignis think it’s his fault or that he’s too weak to handle this, he wants to be strong enough to do this. He breaths in deep and tries to ignore the feeling of something warm at his hole again, but the more the motions are repeated the deeper he can feel his mind slipping.

Soon Noctis is so lost in the sensations that he can’t stop himself before a shouted “No!” breaks from his throat with the next press of the hose. His whole body pulls away from Ignis as much as he can while pressed against the side of the tub as he shivers and pants. Surprisingly he feels the hose pull away and water disappear. Within seconds Ignis worried face is in front of him speaking.

“You’re okay, Noctis, it’s just me. I’m not going to hurt you” Ignis says calmly, but there’s a tightness to his throat when he speaks, “Does it hurt? Would you like to stop?” 

“H-hurts” Noctis sobs, even though the water isn’t actually causing him any pain, but everything else hurts so much that he doesn’t feel like he’s lying.

“…I believe this is as far as we should go then” Ignis nods, he leans over the tub to reach for the taps to turn off the water. The hose is still lying between Noctis’ legs where he’d dropped it, so he reaches down to pick it up, accidentally brushing the back of his hand across Noctis’ thigh when he does.

Noctis whole body jumps and he falls back into the tub with a loud scream before scrambling to the far corner, curling his legs into his chest. His eyes are blown wide as they dart frantically around the room. His nails dig into the skin of his arms as he holds himself tightly, muttering pleas under his breath.

Ignis doesn’t have the time or knowledge to react when Noctis suddenly pulls himself as far away from his advisor as he can manage. It takes a moment before finally his mind clicks and he’s quickly dropping the hose again and pulling himself on his knees closer to Noctis. 

“I-I’m sorry, Noct, I didn’t mean to- You’re okay, I’m right here-” 

“Get away!” Noctis shrieks, only pulling further into himself. 

Ignis has to grip the fabric of his pants tightly to keep himself from reaching out to touch Noctis, he knows it will only make everything worse but all he wants to do is to comfort him anyway he can. There’s a sudden banging on the door that has Ignis whipping his head around to stare at it.

“Hey! What’s going on? Is Noct alright?” is the loud voice that echoes through the wood of the door.

“We’re fine, Gladio! Don’t come in!” Ignis calls back, he has to make sure that he won’t try to break down the door just to get make sure nothing has happened. Noctis would only become more terrified with another’s presence at this stage.

Noctis is still cowering in the corner, body shivering in both the cold air and the phantom feeling of hands gripping him. His mind is racing faster than he can stop it, words tumbling through his mind. Pathetic, useless, weak, scared, broken, disgusting. They mix together, being shouted and whispered and hissed at him in different voices. Ignis, Gladio, Prompto, His father, Luna, Ardyn, and even his own voice echoes the words and so much more until he’s crying loudly to try drowning out the sound. He presses his hands into his ears in a futile attempt to make it stop.

“Noctis! Please, Noctis, listen to me. You’re safe here, no one can hurt you now” Ignis pleas, trying to get any sign that Noctis can hear him or understand what he’s saying. 

He only seems to be getting worse, face buried between his knees and chest. His body shakes with every loud sob and his face is scrunched like he’s trying to disappear altogether. The more Ignis calls to him, the louder he seems to get in response, not hearing a word he says. It definitely seems like a bad idea, but with how Noctis seems completely unresponsive to words Ignis is willing to try. His hand shakes as he reaches out and places it on his shoulder.

“Noctis.”

He jumps at the touch, head shooting up before his eyes fall on Ignis’ face. He’s still gasping for air, face flushed with exhaustion as he stares at him.

“You’re safe, Noct.”

He glances around at his words before taking a deep breath and letting it out in a shaky exhale. His body doesn’t uncoil from where it’s cornered him off in the tub, but his body relaxes slightly as his eyes focus again and his breathing slows down. 

“I- I’m so- I thought- So -orry” he stutters out, barely able to string words together enough to form a cohesive thought. 

“Shhh, don’t apologize. It was my fault, I’m sorry I hurt you like that. Especially after I promised I wouldn’t…” His expression is different to his usual stoic look, even Noctis can tell how bad he feels just from looking at him, how much he wants to apologize. He doesn’t think this is even close to being Ignis’ fault.

“If you will allow me, I can help you wash your hair and then we can finish treating your wounds.”

Noctis tries to speak but the words catch in his dry throat, forcing only a brief series of coughs out before he finally nods his acceptance. He finally pulls the fingers that dug into his skin away from his arms and lets his knees drop down from his body. He shuffles forward towards Ignis and sits in front of him, waiting.

“Thank you, let me just grab the shower head” Ignis says, reaching down to pick up the hose and the shower head extension, giving the hose a quick scrub before twisting the head back on. “Lean your head back towards me, please.”

Noctis follows the instruction silently, tilting his head back to look up at the roof. Ignis smooths his hair back first, pulling all the loose strands away from his skin. He turns the tap back on again before letting the warm water rinse through his clumped hair. He runs his fingers through it gently, helping the water wash out the filth and removing the many tangles in the dark locks. Noctis hasn’t reacted to the touch yet, so Ignis assumes he’s calmed down now. 

It had honestly scared him so much to see Noctis react to him in such a way, he knew he’d been hurt and was frightened, but he hadn’t expected he would become the cause of that fear. He knew they needed to talk about this, he needed to fully understand what Noctis went through and how he can help him get through this. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would have to be done if they ever wanted to help Noctis recover fully. For now, it could wait.

His fingers were carding through his hair smoothly now, not being stopped by knots or tangles and all the dirt was washed away down the drain. Ignis turns off the tap and hangs up the shower head, ready to get this night over and done with. 

He pulls a towel off the hanger provided for them and stands up, “let’s get you back in some clean clothes, hm?” 

Noctis head tilts up to look at him before he nods, hands braced on the side of the tub before he pushes himself up on shaking legs. Ignis holds out his arm to support him as he steps over the edge of the tub and onto the cool tiles. When he’s standing on both feet again Ignis wraps the towel around his shoulders and uses the corner of it to wipe off drips of water from his face and hair. He can still see a slight bump to his lower stomach, clearly showing that he was unsuccessful in removing everything, but it’s still much smaller than it was before. It should at least be more bearable now.

He grabs another towel so that he can allow Noctis the protection and warmth of his own wrapped around his shoulders before kneeling in front of him and drying his skin. He pats the towel as carefully as he can over the wounds as to not reopen any of them as he moves his way up Noctis’ body. When he’s no longer dripping water onto the floor, Ignis nods his approval before helping him walk to the door, opening it up as they step onto the plush carpet.

Prompto and Gladio’s heads look up at them when they hear them re-enter the room, they’re both sitting on the bed waiting. Gladio is bent over resting his elbows on his knees while Prompto is curled up against the headrest with his knees tucked against his chest. They can both see the wet, almost completely naked Noct shuffling into the room looking like a drowned cat with a dishevelled and damp looking Ignis by his side. As funny as the situation may have been any other day, today they say nothing at the sight of them.

“Prompto, would you please grab Noct a change of clothes, his pyjamas should do” Ignis asks, making the boy bounce from the bed to scramble to their bags on the floor, digging through Noctis messily packed bag to find him something to wear. Gladio shuffles over, allowing Noctis more room as Ignis guides him to sit down on the bed.

“H-here!” Prompto says, armful of balled up clothes being presented to Ignis.

“Thank you, Prom” Ignis says, taking the pile before kneeling in front of Noctis again. “We still need to dress your wounds, but here’s a change of underwear” he holds the fabric up to his feet, helping him to step into the garment before pulling it up onto his hips. 

“Gladio, I’ll need some help with treating his injuries” Ignis says as he takes the towel from Noctis’ shoulder, dropping it to the floor beside him.

“Of course,” Gladio nods, “I also think we should put his arm in a sling for now, just to help minimise any movements that could make it worse, the muscles will still be pretty tender for a while.”

“Alright” Ignis agrees, he pulls forward the first aid kit again and removes all the bandages and gauze he can to place on the bed in front of him. “I want to disinfect the larger wounds, even if most of the dirt has been removed I still don’t like how long they’ve been exposed for. I don’t want to risk infection.”

He digs until he finds a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton pads. He wets the pads with the disinfectant before handing one to Gladio and taking on for himself. Gladio starts with the hole in his bicep since it’s closer to him, gently taking his arm in his hand before dabbing the wet pad against the wound. Noctis hisses at the contact, feeling the slight burn of disinfectant against exposed flesh. Ignis takes the hole in his thigh, gently dabbing around the sizeable wound. 

Noctis’ face scrunches and he bites his lip as they clean the wounds. He startles out a gasp when he feels a hand close around his own but relaxes when he sees Prompto’s face give him an encouraging smile as he squeezes his hand again. Noctis takes his hand and holds it while Gladio and Ignis move around his body, disinfecting the wounds along his arms and legs, the gaping hole torn in his side and the long gashes along his back. He winces and whines throughout the whole ordeal but squeezing Prompto’s hand is somehow comforting enough that he doesn’t say anything else.

Finally, the wounds are clean and Ignis sits back on his heels with a sigh, Noctis’ body is still a complete wreck of injuries and bruises, but now that he’s confident they’re clean enough to close. There should be less pain for Noct. 

“Alright, let’s use the potions to try close the wounds before we dress them” Ignis informs Gladio, who’s already reaching over to the pile of potions Prompto had left on the bed, handing one to Ignis as well. 

Ignis goes first, cracking the potion directly over the hole in his thigh, watching the flood of blue sink into the skin. Noctis groans loudly at the feeling, tight skin being tugged closer together after being open so long, but the wound is still sizeable. Honestly, if they hadn’t just watched the potion wash over the wound they’d be convinced nothing had happened. 

Gladio takes his potion and cracks it over him, watching again as the wound only seem to close millimetres at a time. Gladio grabs another round of potions and the two of them crack them over Noctis’ body again, watching another small amount of his wounds close. Noctis is panting now and holding back yells every time he feels the wounds get tugged closer together, there’s still the faint pain relief that comes every time the magic of the potion washes over him, but the aftermath of tender muscle being forced to heal and close itself leaves a sharp ache in his skin. 

They keep breaking potion after potion over him until they’re aren’t any potions left. Most of his bruises have faded from a dark purple into a more yellow shade, and many of the thin scratches and teeth marks have faded into pink scars along his skin. The large scratches along his back and the three holes pierced into his skin are almost closed, but they are still red and fresh, only just starting to scab over in the middle while the skin surrounding is still as pink and tender as a wound just stating to heal. It’s not how Ignis would’ve liked to leave Noctis, but they’ve no more potions left to use, and he’s almost afraid that any more might be doing more damage than good at this stage.

He quietly passes some gauze and bandages to Gladio before they both silently start dressing the wounds, pressing the gauze onto the still bloody tears before wrapping long lengths of cloth bandages around them to hold it in place. He’s only a few more bandages away from having a complete mummy costume for Halloween now. His upper arm and thigh on his left side are both wrapped tightly, and his torso from his hips to just under his chest is completely covered in bandages. 

Gladio steps around to sit on Noctis’ other side, making Prompto scurry out of the way, before pulling out a large cut of cloth that he folds under his bruised arm and wraps around so that his hand is resting on his opposite shoulder, held tightly to his chest with the piece of cloth holding it in a sling. They’ve done the best they can, and while still looking very battered and bruised, he’s on his way to healing and that’s all the can wish for at the moment. 

Ignis picks up the pair of pyjama pants that he’d abandoned on the floor beside him before helping Noctis to step into them and pull them up his legs and over his hips. He decides to forgo the shirt thanks to the sling holding his arm in place and the immense amounts of bandages that he’s sure he’ll need to check in a few hours anyway. 

The three of them all help move Noctis up to sit in the middle of the bed, propped up against as many pillows as they can surround him with. Prompto sits beside him, pulling the covers of the bed over the two of them and offering Noctis his hand again silently. Noctis grips at the hand, not saying anything, but grateful at the small amount of comfort it brings him to have that small gesture that says ‘I’m here for you’ without asking him to say anything more. He leans back against the pillows and finally, after what feels like weeks, closes his eyes and lets himself relax into the soft bed. 

Ignis and Gladio take to reorganizing the room, packing the first aid kit together and removing all the strewn around objects to put back where they belong. When they have the room mostly cleaned again they turn to find the two younger men breathing deeply against the pillows, Prompto’s head leaning against Noctis’ shoulder. Ignis lets out a small relieved breath finally seeing Noctis peacefully asleep, he feels ready to do the same too, but he first has to do one more thing.

“Gladio” he says, drawing the man’s attention, “Noctis has… he’s been through a lot tonight… It is not something he will easily overcome, so I need you to promise me that we will give him the time he needs, okay? I don’t want you to try push him to be himself before he’s ready.”

“You seriously think I’d do something to the kid when he’s like this?” Gladio says, an annoyed bite to his tone, “the kid looks like he was half eaten by a fucking behemoth!” he angrily whispers, quickly glancing towards the bed to make sure the boys haven’t moved.

“He bloody well might have…” Ignis sighs, which makes Gladio quirk his eyebrow to look at him. He stares at him quietly for a moment before speaking.

“…He told you what happened, didn’t he” Gladio guesses, staring down at a spot on the floor, he’s not sure he wants to see the kind of expression Ignis is making now.

“…He did. But I cannot tell you, it’s not my place to say…” Ignis says in a strained way, like something in him is begging to relieve himself of the burden, like he needs to confide the information with someone other than himself. “I-it’s horrible, Gladio… I don’t even know the half of it, and yet- everything he’s been through... It’s unimaginable...”

“Hey” Gladio says as he suddenly pulls Ignis to his chest and hold him tight, “it’s gunna be okay. We’ll get through this together, just like we always do.”

Ignis sighs as he wraps his arms around Gladio’s broad waist, fingers clenching into the leather jacket.

“You make it sound so easy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, I wanted to drag out the suffering for longer but I also wanted to get this chapter out faster! Also for some reason writing Ignis help give Noct an enema was somehow one of the things were I was like "is this too much??? am I taking this too far???" even though he was literally just gang-banged by a bunch of monsters... maybe I have a fucked up moral compass


	9. Chapter 9

Noctis turns under the soft sheets, body uncomfortable no matter which way he lies. Every part of him is sore and achy and it hurts resting on any part of his body for too long, making him toss and turn to try get comfortable. Having his arm held to his chest in a sling also adds to his discomfort, making nearly impossible to rest on that side. 

He rolls onto his back and is thankful that the mattress is soft enough that it doesn’t hurt his back too much. It feels like nothing in comparison to the feeling of it being pushed into the dirt floor like it had been. The memory makes him shiver and writhe just thinking about it. Suddenly the weight of the blanket doesn’t feel as comfortable anymore. It feels like it’s suffocating him, like the weight of something much bigger pressing down on him. His eyes are squeezed shut but he turns his head away and grips at the mattress fearfully. 

“What’s wrong, Noct?” a sly voice curls into his ears, “you look afraid.”

His eyes snap open and dart around trying to find the body that matches the voice, trying to find where Ardyn is. He sees nothing. Absolutely nothing. The room is pitch black, but it’s nothing like the darkness when the lights are off and you can’t see. There’s absolutely nothing in the room with him. He’s not even sure if there is a room.

“Don’t be so alarmed, I thought we’d become such good friends by now” Ardyn’s voice calls again, an echoed sound following each word. 

Noctis is quivering, quickly pulling his knees into his chest and trying to close his eyes and sleep. This can’t be real, it’s not happening. 

“Now that’s rude, ignoring me when I came all this way to see you” Ardyn says bitterly.

A hand tips up Noctis’ chin suddenly forcing him to look into Ardyn’s face that appears through the darkness, but he’s not the same. His eyes are a hollow black and a black sludge fills his mouth and dribbles out the sides as his face contorts into a wicked smile. 

“See, that’s better isn’t it? We can talk face to face now” he grins and more black oozes from his lips and bubbles against his tongue as it rolls around in his mouth. 

Noctis is trying to push himself back, to create any sort of distance he can between himself and Ardyn, but there is nothing for him to get leverage against, nothing to push against to make him move. He’s trapped beneath a heavy blanket of darkness.

“Let’s have a look at you, shall we?” Ardyn says, hand ghosting down Noctis’ chest. As it moves down his body the dark blanket disappears, and he’s left completely naked except for his bandages.

He moves to cover himself but feels his hands tugged back to his sides and held there fast, he’s helpless against Ardyn’s approach. His voice has been trapped in his throat, unable to say anything through the terror and confusion of what was happening, but when Ardyn’s hand presses against his chest he sucks in a deep breath like he’s finally remembering to breath before screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Get Away!!” his voice echoes into the void, “Don’t touch me!!” 

The hand persists, smoothing down his front and stopping over his stomach, still curved out in a slight bump under the palm, even under the bandages pressure.

“Well, won’t this be exciting, hmm?” Ardyn says curiously as he tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. 

“S-stop it!!” 

“I can’t wait to see what happens next” he laughs, face melting into the black ooze in a horrifyingly slow fashion. Noctis pants heavily, watching it happen before his very eyes until there’s nothing left.

As soon as his face is gone, Noctis is all that remains in the dark, confused and frightened all over again. He doesn’t know where he is or how he got here or where everyone went. He just wants this to be over, please, let it end. 

“I-Ignis!?” He calls into the dark, but he hears nothing except for his own voice echoed back to him. 

He feels the weight on his body first before realizing that the darkness is curling around him again, hiding his body away and weighing him down. He tries to scramble, to push it away, but it’s like trying to outrun a shadow. It’s impossible. The weight grows and grows until he feels like his chest is being crushed beneath it. He’s screaming out again and again, thrashing as much as he can to get away from it.

“Make it stop! Please! Get off me!! No-o!!”

Until the darkness swallows him completely.

\--

Noctis and Prompto had been fast asleep ever since they’d curled up in bed together an hour ago. Gladio insisted Ignis get some rest first while he stay up a little longer just to keep an eye on Noctis. He’d promised he’d go to sleep as soon as he was convinced that Noctis wasn’t going to wake up in pain or scared out of his mind. And it seemed Noctis had been doing well so far. Even if Gladio perked up in worry anytime he’d so much as shift in his sleep, but he seemed to be pretty fast asleep. It was the first time that Gladio was grateful that the Prince was such a heavy sleeper.

He’d just started to doze off in the lounge chair he’d stationed himself in when he heard the whimper from the bed. He lifted an eyelid to peer over and see Noctis shifting in his bed again. Probably uncomfortable, poor kid, Gladio thought watching him toss and turn slowly under the covers. Prompto has slid down over the hour and was now resting most of his head and shoulder on Noctis’ chest, and while the blonde weighed nothing, he hoped it wasn’t painful for Noct.

He tossed again, a little more forcefully this time and Gladio say upright to watch him. Now he was starting to worry. More whimpers and grunts echoed into quiet room, and Gladio stood to walk over to the bed. Clearly the kid wasn’t okay, he was starting to sound increasingly more panicked every second. Until finally he was so loud that Gladio was startled back and Prompto’s head shot off his chest.

“Get away!! Don’t touch me!!!” Noctis screamed loudly, but his eyes were still shut even if his body struggled hard to get away from whatever was frightening him.

“N-Noct?!” Prom yelped in confusion, shuffling back to avoid his harsh flailing.

“Prompto, get off the bed!” Gladio commands quickly, hoping to give him some space.

“D-did I do something wrong? Is he okay?!” Prompto worries, clearly worried that he’d done something to set Noctis off, and honestly Gladio’s not sure if he did either.

“What’s going on?” Ignis tired voice calls from behind him, he’s fumbling to put his glasses on quickly to glance over at a very panicked looking Gladio and Prompto as Noctis screams and pulls at the sheets.

“I think he’s having a nightmare!” Gladio explains quickly as Ignis climbs out of bed to stands beside him.

“What do we do?!” Prompto squeaks. 

“S-stop it!!!” Noctis screams again, face torn into an expression of pure agony as he thrashes.

“Get the covers off him and give him some room first!” Ignis says, pulling at the covers to throw them off the end of the bed with Prompto and Gladio’s help.

“He’s not having a fucking seizure! We need to wake him up!” Gladio argues, watching Noctis writhe again, he’s worried he might hurt himself again if the let this continue for too long.

“I know that! I just don’t want to scare him even more than he already is!” 

“I-Ignis?!” Noctis calls out, the fear is evident in his voice, and even though he called out his name he still thrashes unseeingly against the bed.

Noctis throws himself against the mattress, voice high and strained in a scream as his head throws back. His arm comes dangerously close to slipping from his sling before Prompto kneels on the edge of the bed and reaches out to grasp for his hand.

“Make it stop! Please! Get off me!! No-o!!” he screams again.

“Prompto-” Ignis warns before he can stop him.

“Noctis! Wake up!” it seems like a juvenile way to wake a person up, yet it’s all Prompto could think to do in the moment. “Please, Noct! It’s your friends!”

Noctis’ eyes open and he pulls back quickly, ripping his hand from Prompto’s hold as he slams himself against the headrest, only making him gasp out a cry when he hits every still healing wound on his skin. His eyes are darting out frantically and Prompto recoils at the terrified look Noctis gives him, afraid of what’s happening to his best friend.

“Noctis? Noctis, it’s okay. You’re in the hotel room with us. Nothing has happened to you, you’re safe” Ignis says, crouching down to be eye level with Noctis. His eyes drag over to Ignis’ face at the sound of talking but it takes a moment for the words to make sense in his mind. 

“Wh-where… ugh!” Noctis winces curling his free arm around his middle, groaning at the sharp pain he feels in his back and his stomach. 

“You’re in the Leville, with Prompto, Gladio, and I. You’re okay now, you were asleep” Ignis says again, calmly trying to explain everything to Noctis as his hackles slowly calm and he starts to see the room with clarity again.

Noctis blinks around to find that he’s not surrounded by darkness but is in fact still in the room they’ve stayed in every night since they arrived in Altissia. The room is only lit by a lamp left on between the two double beds and what could only be the start of a sunrise peaking through the curtains. Noctis shakes his head, confusion swimming around inside like he’s not even sure who he is anymore. Just a dream? It must have been, there’s no way that was real. Yet somehow, he still felt disgusting all over, like hands had been pressed against his skin again.

“S-safe…” Noctis sighs, dropping his head on his knees, finally understanding that he just had a nightmare and scared the crap out of everyone. He feels even more stupid now, he can’t even fall asleep without making everyone worry anymore.

“That’s right” Ignis nods, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, “Are you alright? You were screaming in your sleep…” 

Noctis flinches at the thought, how pathetic, he must have looked so weak screaming at a non-existent threat while his friends stood mere metres away. He doesn’t want to be like this, doesn’t want to be terrified of every noise or shadow. Doesn’t want to be afraid of closing his eyes because he might be there waiting to torment him again. 

“I-I’m fine. Just a dream” Noctis says quickly, unable to look at anyone in the eyes. He’s lying through his teeth.

“…We’re here for you, Noct. You can tell us if you’re afraid-”

“I’m not afraid!” Noctis bites out loud enough that even Gladio jumps, “…I’m not.”

“Right…” Ignis nods, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.

Prompto shuffles up the mattress closer to Noctis, he doesn’t move beyond that but sits beside him just half a metre away. He holds his hand up to Noct, making sure he’s offering it closer to his free arm. Noctis stares at the arm first, face pulled into a sad frown before his breath hitches and he grabs his hand and squeezes tight. His face buries back into his knees and he sobs against the soft fabric of his pants.

Prompto shuffles up the bed a little more, bumping their shoulders together and sitting beside him quietly as he lets Noctis squeeze his fingers too hard and cry to himself. It only just dawns on Ignis now watching Noctis cry that it’s been several hours and he hasn’t had a single drink since they’ve brought him back. He quickly pushes himself off the bed to go fill a glass with water for him.

Gladio sits down on the bed and shuffles over to sit against Noctis’ other shoulder, not touching him but sitting close to him. Ignis returns quickly with a full glass, sitting before offering it to Noctis who just lifts his head enough to see it.

“Here, Noctis. You’ve got to be horribly dehydrated” Ignis holds the glass until Noctis takes it in his shaking hand, bring it up to his lips before gulping down big mouthfuls of water until the glass is empty. He breathes in and out, trying to even out his shaky breathing and calm his tight chest. 

“Th-thanks” he mumbles, handing the glass back to Ignis. The water seemed to have helped stop his panic as well, allowing him a moment to focus on other needs apart from his own terror. 

“Noct, i-is it alright if I hold you? You can say no, of course! I j-just- it’s all I can think of right now…” Prompto says quickly, he feels so useless after watching Ignis and Gladio take care of Noctis’ every need for the past few hours, and yet the only way he can think to help him is to hold him. 

Noctis chews on his bottom lip, thinking over the offer before he finally nods slowly. He tenses at first when Prompto’s arm comes around his shoulder, but then stills. Prompto doesn’t move any more than that, still holding his hand in his own, but now gently rubbing his thumb against Noct’s shoulder. He breathes deeply, looking at Prompto’s face and then at his hand and mentally saying to himself, this is Prompto’s hand, he’s just comforting me, he’ll stop if I ask him to, until he feels calm. 

“…Do you want to talk about what happened?” Gladio asks out of the blue, making everyone turn to stare at him in shock. Ignis is giving him a disapproving frown.

“Gladio-” Ignis hisses but is quickly cut off.

“No” Noctis says firmly, not looking at anyone. He doesn’t repeat himself, just sits quietly.

“…Alright” Gladio concedes, as concerned and curious as he might be he’s not cruel enough to try force it out of him.

Ignis grumbles silently, Gladio should know better than to just ask Noctis so suddenly. He’d hoped for him to listen a bit better when he’d told him not to try force Noctis to be okay before he was ready. 

“How are your injuries, are you in pain?” Ignis asks, trying to work past Gladio’s question.

“…Everything hurts. Not like before, just like I feel sore everywhere” Noctis says softly. “and… my stomach still hurts.”

Ignis nods, he knows the last part was probably mentioned just for him. He’s not sure if there’s anything he can actually do to help his stomach at the moment, there’s not a chance in hell either of them is willing to try flush the rest out. Maybe he can just give him something to help with any cramping or pain he’s feeling.

“Maybe you’re hungry?” Prompto speaks up, “I mean, it’s been hours right? That could be why your stomach hurts.”

Ignis smiles softly at the boy’s thoughtful statement, grateful that his first explanation was something as normal as hunger pains. And he may not be entirely wrong either since the last thing Noctis probably ate before he went missing was breakfast. 

“Well, how about I make us some very early breakfast then, and get you some pain killers, maybe a heat pack” Ignis nods, standing up from the bed again.

“Yeah, okay” Noctis nods, he doesn’t really feel like eating, but he knows that it’s been a long time since he last ate, and he threw that all up anyway. His body was probably hungrier than he realised. 

Ignis walks over to the small kitchen area in the hotel room. It’s not much, just a small fridge, a microwave, a sink, and a stove top, but it’s not that different than what he’s used to using when they camp out so he should have no problem. He decides something bland and easy to digest like oats should be a nice quick meal to serve. He quickly sets to filling a pot with water and letting it boil while he goes to the first aid kit to find whatever the strongest pain killers they have are. He takes Noctis’ glass and refills it before returning to hand him the pills and water.

“They’re the strongest we have, hopefully it will provide some relief” Ignis says as Noctis swallows them down quickly before finishing off the glass of water. Ignis takes it back again once it’s empty.

“As long as they help” Noctis mumbles, shuffling lower into the bed and finally letting unfurling enough that he’s not pressed into a tight ball. Ignis quickly glances at the bandages around his stomach, noticing that there’s a slight pink tinge to them on the side. Nothing terrible yet, but he’ll have to keep an eye on it in case the wound opens up again. 

Ignis returns to the stove, checking the water before preparing to cook the oats. He sets about, pouring out enough outs for the four of them to eat, and a little extra for seconds. Once the waters boiled he pours them in and stirs the pot, letting the oats cook. Soon enough they’re cooked, and he spoons them out into bowls, turning around to call back to the others.

“What would everyone like on their oatmeal?” 

“Blueberries please!” Prompto says with a broad smile.

“Bananas and brown sugar” Gladio says.

“Honey and milk” Noctis says, softer than the others.

Ignis nods, completing the meals as requested before he carries the bowls out on a tray and sets it on the bed. He passes out the bowls to everyone, having to wait for Noctis to cross his legs so that he had somewhere to rest the bowl so that he could use his free hand to feed himself. He watches as Noctis spoons at his oatmeal slowly, trying to make it not look like he’s staring, until he finally puts the spoon in his mouth. The immediate reaction is not one of disgust or rejection, so Ignis relaxes somewhat.

“Gladio, you brought a heat pack with you, didn’t you?” Ignis asks, turning to the man as he shovels oats into his mouth.

“Yeah” he says after he swallows down a bite, “It’s in my bag, you can use it if you want.”

“Thank you” Ignis says as he walks over to the bags to find it. He does quickly thanks to Gladio’s surprising organisation and takes it over to the kitchen to heat up in the microwave. 

He returns to the bed with the warmed-up heat pack and offers it to Noctis who shuffles down somewhat against the headrest, putting his spoon back in the bowl before taking the pack. Ignis picks up the bowl to move it as Noctis places the heat pack over his lower stomach, which Ignis notices still has a slight curve to it. Noctis sighs at the warmth over his skin, providing more comfort to his cramping guts than he’d thought it would. 

Gladio reaches over and swaps Noctis’ bowl from Ignis’ hand with his own empty one, a small smile growing on his face. “Thanks, Iggy. Now I’ll hold his, so you can eat too” He nods towards Ignis’ own bowl that still sits on the tray waiting. 

He says a quick thank you before digging into his own breakfast, even though it’s still in the AMs and is probably far too early for breakfast right now. Noctis isn’t super enthusiastic about needing Gladio to hold his food for him just so he can eat, but he doesn’t have much of a choice with his arm still tied down and his lap now occupied with the heat pack resting on his stomach. 

He takes to quietly eating as much of the oatmeal as he can before he can’t eat anymore. He knows he hasn’t eaten very much, half his bowl is still full of oats, but he just can’t stomach any more. Even thinking about another mouthful makes his stomach churn. He drops the spoon into the oatmeal before gently pushing it away from him. 

“Done already?” Gladio asks, looking as Noctis nods slowly.

“I’m full” he mumbles, burying himself deeper into the bed.

Gladio just nods and doesn’t question it, the kid’s been through enough. He doesn’t need a lecture about diet now. 

Ignis gathers up the dishes once everyone is finished and returns them to the kitchen to rinse them off. He sets them to the side to worry about later as he turns around, drying off his hands with a towel.

“If you’re still tired, Noct, I would say it would be best to try rest some more. I doubt there is any need for us to go out today, so please spend as much time resting as you can” Ignis says, he doesn’t think it will be hard to coax Noctis into having a lazy day, but he’s encouraging none the less. 

“Yeah, okay” Noctis nods, as appealing as it sounds to stay in bed all day, there’s a slight twinge of fear at the mention of sleep. The memory of his last attempt is still fresh in his mind and he’s afraid that if he closes his eyes for two long the darkness will simply consume him in seconds. 

Ignis grabs the abandoned blankets from the floor and pulls them back over the bed to tuck Noctis, Gladio, and Prompto back under the covers. The bed already looks very crowded with the three of them, so Ignis returns to the other bed before climbing into it.

“I think we could all use some well-deserved sleep right now” Ignis sighs, pulling the covers over his body. There’s mumbled agreeance’s from Prompto and Gladio and they snuggle down into the bed as well. Noctis has little choice but to follow their lead and lay down against the pillows and close his eyes.

It seems like sleep befalls everyone very quickly, which is unsurprising considering both how early it is and how late they went to bed, but Noctis is still wide awake. He opens his eyes every so often to glance around the room before shuffling under the covers and closing his eyes again. He then repeats the movements after a few minutes, opening his eyes again nervously, afraid of falling asleep in case he dreams again. At least the pain killers have helped ease the ache in his limbs and the heat pack is helping the knots in his stomach ease up. He plans on just lying in bed until someone wakes up later.

“Can’t sleep?” is whispered beside him and he starts before looking towards the blonde boy lying next to him. “I could feel you tossing and turning, you okay?” 

“Mm” Noctis mumbles, “just… can’t sleep.”

“It’s okay, Noct. You don’t have to fall asleep, I know you’re worried about having another bad dream…” 

“Am not!” Noctis hisses quietly, frowning at Prompto even when the boy smiles.

“You’re a bad liar, and also you literally never have trouble falling asleep. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it” Prompto says confidently.

Noctis says nothing, just rolls over more so that he’s facing Prompto.

“Noct, you know you can talk to me, right?” Prompto says, before quickly adding, “I mean, it doesn’t have to be about what happened! I’m not asking you to tell me that! But… I want you to tell me when you feel bad or scared because I want to be able to help you. So, please, if you need to talk to someone…”

Noctis smiles at his best friend’s antics, fully knowing that he’s being honest in wanting only to help Noctis in any way he can. He bites his lip again as his smile falters and he can feel tears well up in his eyes.

“...Noct?” Prompto says again softly, hand reaching in front of him, but stopping just short of touching him.

Noctis hiccups out a sob as the first tear spills over, sliding across his face and into the pillows. His breath hitches again as more tears flow from his eyes and he feels pathetic for crying in front of his friend.

“H-hey, it’s okay! What’s wrong, Noct?” Prompto says again, shuffling a little closer to Noctis so that they’re almost touching.

“I-I’m afraid- if I fall asleep I’m afraid it will h-happen again…” Noctis sobs out, hating how childish he sounds, crying about not being able to fall asleep because of a bad dream. How weak.

“oh, Noct… you’re afraid you’ll have another nightmare?” Prompto asks carefully, there’s not even the slightest tone of judgment in his voice, just a gentle curiosity. 

“Mhmm” Noctis nods, chest bouncing with every fast breath he hiccups. “I-it’s like a darkness… it’s gunna drown me out, and I can’t breathe, I-I can’t move, I can’t fight, and then- then-” he sobs again, burying his face down into the pillows as he shakes. A hand touches against his messy hair lightly, stroking it back once and then again.

“It’s okay, Noct, it’s just a dream. It can’t hurt you, and we’ll be right here to help you as soon as you wake up. I-I can’t promise that you won’t have them, but I’ll always be right here if you do, okay? So, you don’t have to be afraid. You aren’t alone Noctis” Prompto smiles, sliding his hand down from Noctis’ hair to rest over his hand. 

It doesn’t completely reassure Noctis, he knows there’s nothing he can do to prevent the dreams, but Prompto is giving him a warm look, and his hand is gently squeezing his own. Maybe it’ll be better now.

“…C-can you hold my hand… while I sleep?” Noctis asks, feeling embarrassed that he needs the reassurance of someone holding his hands to get through the night.

Prompto smiles again, giving his hand another squeeze, “of course I will.”

He can’t prevent the dreams, but at least his friends can wake him up from them now.

\--

“We have to call the secretary, this entire plan has to be called off” Ignis says firmly, his arms are crossed as he stands in the kitchen with Gladio sitting at the table sipping from a mug. 

“He’s not going to like that” Gladio says simply, before taking another sip.

“Of course not, but there’s no way he can be expected to complete the ritual now, he’s severely injured and in no mental state to fight anyone, let alone a god. We simply can’t take the risk.”

“and what do we do about Luna then, she’s only here because of the ritual.”

“We’ll have to think of a new agreement with the Secretary, some other way to get Luna back without having Noctis go through with the ritual.”

“But he still needs Leviathan’s blessing regardless, so how’s that gunna work?”

“Well, we’ll postpone it then, until Noctis is recovered.”

“And how long will that take, a week? A month? How long do you think the Secretary wants the Nifs sniffing around here for, she’d sooner give them Luna.”

“Gladio! Would you stop it!” Ignis grumbles, frustrated with Gladio’s constant picking apart of his plans without contributing any help.

“Sorry, Iggy. Just trying to be a voice of reason” Gladio shrugs swigging down the last of his drink. 

“Look, I don’t have every detail planned out, but I’m sure once we contact the Secretary we can make some kind of arrangement that get’s Noctis out of the agreement.”

“and why would I need to get out of the agreement?” Noctis mumbles as he hobbles out of bed and towards the kitchen table. Ignis startles to see him up and hurries over to his side to help him sit down at the table, only wincing slightly as he sits on the hard wood. 

“Noctis, you should be in bed still” Ignis worries, filling up a glass of water and placing it in front of him none the less. 

“and you shouldn’t be having discussions about me when I’m asleep, or at least trying to sleep” Noctis grumbles, taking the glass as he wriggles uncomfortably on the chair. 

“Noctis… you should know full well you’re in no state to complete the ritual, the leviathan is a powerful god and you’re in no shape to be fighting anyone. I simply won’t allow you” Ignis says standing his ground firmly.

“I don’t remember you being the King…” Noctis says, giving Ignis a questioning look.

“No, but I am the King’s advisor, and I am advising you not to go through with this. The risk is too great, what if something goes wrong? You could very well die out there! And we won’t be by your side to help if we’re helping with the evacuations and town. What will you do then?” 

“I’ll do what I was meant to do, I’ll fight Leviathan and bring Luna home. I’m not leaving without her, it’s why we’re here” Noctis says, a dark frown on his face warning Ignis not to argue with him on this. It almost resembles Regis for a moment.

“Noctis…” Ignis whines, “You cannot seriously expect to take on a God while this injured? You just barely managed to walk from the bed to the Kitchen unassisted.” 

“I am not leaving without Luna! That’s final!” Noctis shouts, stumbling up from the chair to stalk off in the other direction.

He refuses to argue the point anymore, he made a promise, an agreement with the secretary that he would complete the ritual and take responsibility for Luna’s actions. He wasn’t about to back down now because of his own stupid mistakes. If he got hurt in the process, fine, but he’d do anything to get Luna back safely. 

And that’s exactly what he was going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're back on track! I mean, I was gunna wait until later in the week to post the next chapter, but I finished it today so whatever! If I stay on track I'm hoping to get another one up this weekend!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man im sorry my posting schedule has gone to shit, but I promise Im still working on this!! and I'll be updating as often as possible! also lots of spoilers from here on out, so read at your own risk.

“You’re positive you’re up to this?” Ignis says cautiously, hand resting on Noctis shoulder stopping him from walking any further.

“I have to, Ignis. It’s what we came here to do, I have to finish this” Noctis responds, voice heavy with knowing what he has to do next. He’s made his mind up, even if his body still aches terribly.

“You’re still recovering, Noct. Your wounds have barely healed, and we only just took your arm out of it’s sling. Are you really ready to fight the Leviathan?”

Ignis is only trying to protect him, to keep Noctis as far away from any more pain and suffering as he can, but the words sound like doubt in Noctis’ mind. Doubt in his ability to fight, to bring Luna home and to fulfil his destiny. He scowls at the idea of Ignis thinking of him as weak.

“I am, Ignis. Are you?”

“…The necessary preparations are complete, and we will be heading to the Secretary’s aid once you leave” Ignis nods coldly, he’s not happy with this plan at all. Not since everything went so wrong, but it is Noctis’ decision to make.

“Then we’re set, Luna will be starting the ritual soon. I’d better head off” Noctis says with a quick nod.

“Wait, Noct” Ignis says, holding him back from leaving again, “Please, I know we’re supposed to be helping the city, but I will be there for you if you need the help. I won’t let you fight alone again.”

“And you won’t be, just because you won’t be fighting beside me doesn’t mean you won’t be fighting with me. I’ll be alright, promise” Noctis smiles at him, giving his hand a squeeze before he walks away, heading into the crowded city where Luna is waiting. 

Ignis frowns as he watches him leave, he’s not convinced at all that this day will go well. Not with the way Noctis still limps when he walks and how he jumps whenever someone approaches him when he’s not paying attention. He can only hope that his strength and Luna will be enough to protect him. 

\--

“Farewell, dear Noctis…”

The light shines over Noctis’ face, making him groan and squirm before sitting up in bed. He looks around to find nothing is familiar. The room is ornately decorated, floral patterns adorn the walls and wide large windows open out over the clear blue skies of Altissia. The bed he’s lying in is also massive, with plush expensive looking quilts wrapped around Noctis’ limbs like he’d thrown them off during the night. Or day considering how high the sun was in the sky.

“Back with us?” Ignis’ voice calls out through the archway that opened the bedroom up to a seating room. His back was turned to him as he spoke.

Noctis watches as Ignis’ hand comes up to bump against the armrest before grabbing hold of it and pulling himself to his feet. He takes a step before turning towards Noctis.

“I’ll tell the others… though it may take a bit” He says, head bowed slightly.

Noctis’ eyebrows shoot up when he sees the dark shade of the man’s glasses and the still red scars across his face. 

“Y-you’re hurt” Noctis breathes, regret and blame already weighing down on his chest. His fault.

“A… small sacrifice in the greater battle” he says solemnly. 

Small? Noctis thinks, his eyes are almost completely scarred over. How could that be considered small? A soft breeze and an echo of an even softer voice send a shiver down his spine as he looks up at Ignis again.

“and Luna?”

Ignis steps again, back turning to Noctis as he takes careful steps towards the door.

“She has passed…” He says softly, unable to face Noctis even if he can’t see his face.

The words make him sick to his stomach, weighing down on him like the sky has fallen down to crush him. He hasn’t just failed Ignis, he’s failed Luna too. Failed the whole world that had fallen in love with the Oracle. Failed his own heart that wanted so desperately to protect her like she had protected him all this time. 

That’s when Noctis notices the weight resting in his closed fist that he hadn’t felt before. His breath hitches when he uncurls his fingers to find his father’s ring resting in his palm. There’s only one way that he could have ended up with this and the thought makes his eyes water as he clenches his fist around the ring. He just wanted to save her, just one person out of everyone and he couldn’t even do that. 

He wasn’t there to save his father or his home, he wasn’t there to protect his people or Jared, he couldn’t save Luna all those years ago, and he couldn’t save her now. He couldn’t even save himself. What good would he make for a king if everyone he was supposed to protect died saving him instead. He was such a disgrace. 

Ignis’ hand moves, gesturing vaguely in Noctis’ direction.

“Umbra… left that for you” he says before taking careful steps towards the door.

His nausea only builds more when he turns to find the notebook lying beside him amongst the covers. His hand shakes at the thought of touching it, that inside might be a final message from Luna he can never answer. He opens the cover and flicks through the pages, childhood memories flashing before his eyes until a page falls open. No words are written, just a bright blue sylleblossom pressed between the pages. 

Noctis can’t help the sob he makes when he sees the flower, remembering the dream that had woken him. Luna’s goodbye. The nausea is tight in his chest and his sobs quickly turn to heaves before he’s stumbling off the bed towards what he can only hope is the bathroom through the door in the bedroom. His feet hit the floor and he wobbles fiercely. It feels like he hasn’t walked in days, pins and needles running up his legs.

He stumbles forward a few steps, arms wrapped around himself tightly until a hard cough that turns into a gag has his knees hitting the floor. His hands brace him as he falls, resting on all fours as his body shakes and he gags again feeling hot liquids rush up his throat until he’s throwing up onto the polished wood floor.

“Noct?” he hears faintly from the room beside him, then again louder accompanied with rushed footsteps. 

“Noct!” Prompto calls, suddenly kneeling beside Noctis, hands holding his back and shoulders while he heaves. 

“What is it? Is he alright?” Ignis voice calls, worry unhidden in his words as Gladio stands by his side helping to lead him into the room. 

“He’s sick, vomiting” Prompto explains briefly, “You alright, Noctis?”

Noctis just groans in response, spitting up the last dribbles of burning liquid that fills his mouth. It tastes strongly of stomach acid and when he looks down all he can see is a milky fluid splattered on the floor with stringy bits of bile in it. The sight is enough to have him gagging again.

“Easy now, you’ve been asleep for two weeks. You’re not in the best shape right now” Prompto worries, hand rubbing soothing circles against his back. Noctis freezes, turning slowly to stare at Prompto. Two weeks?

“…and Ignis hadn’t told you that yet. Right.”

“That’s right, I was hoping to wait until after he’d had a moment to settle down. Thank you, Prompto” Ignis sighs, hand touching his glasses out of habit.

“Sorry…” Prompto says sheepishly, unable to take back what’s already been said.

“…Is that true?” Noctis asks slowly, breathing deep through his mouth.

“It is, you were unconscious after you defeated Leviathan and received her blessing. The toll it had on your body was too great, we were unable to wake you no matter what” Ignis explains.

“Two weeks…”

“Yes, so you are likely to be in great need of some food and drink. Lunch is ready if you’d like to get cleaned up first.”

“Yeah, there’s a bathroom right through here, shower and everything. Cause, uh, not to be mean but I think a shower would be a great idea right now” Prompto smiles, trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

Noctis nods slowly and allows Prompto to help him back on his feet before leading him into the joint bathroom. He quickly retreats again when Noctis says he’d like to shower, allowing the prince some privacy. As soon as the door shuts and he’s left in the quiet room alone his knees start to wobble again. 

He slowly slides down until he’s on his knees against the cool tiles, breath hitching as his eyes fill with tears and he opens his palm to find his Father’s ring still there. The ring of Lucii. How the hell did everything go so wrong?

All he wanted was to protect his friends, to do what was right yet somehow everything had gone so horribly wrong and now Luna was dead and Ignis can’t see and everything is just wrong. And it was all his fault. He really wasn’t strong enough. He’s not even sure if he can blame it on the injuries he was still recovering from, maybe he was truly just that weak. He couldn’t fight off some beasts, what made him think he could protect his friends from a God? 

He couldn’t even protect them from mankind.

Couldn’t even protect himself.

He let’s the grief build in his chest as painful tears slide over his face, head dizzy from physical exhaustion and dehydration. He clenched his teeth and tried to hold back his sobs, unsure if he could be heard or not from outside the room. Everything seemed to echo so much against the cold tiled floors.

After his tears run dry and his face is hot and throbbing with a headache he finally drags himself back off the ground. He turns to see his reflection in the mirror, staring back at him with a distraught look on his face. His skin was blotchy red and streaked in tears and the bags under his eyes were dark and purple. He sighs as he starts to strip himself of his clothes, pulling his pants down and then his t-shirt. 

He’s mapping out all of his scars now, all of them seem to be pretty much completely healed now. Still a bright pink colour, but no longer fresh or open. He knows they won’t fade, he’ll carry them forever on his skin. The large torn looking circle that covers a large portion of his right thigh and bicep. The multitude of scratches forever marred into his body. Jagged teeth marks now formed pink crescents that seemed more suspicious than any of the others. 

He hated to look at them, all of them a horrible reminder of how he had got them. What beast had torn him apart before leaving its mark. He pulls the shirt off his arms finally, tossing it onto the floor with his discarded pants. He’s reaching for the waistband of his underwear when his hand freezes. He hadn’t expected to see a bump. A curve to his stomach that should have been gone weeks ago. Too defined to be unnoticeable. Too firm looking under his skin to be normal. And if what Prompto had said was true, he hasn’t eaten anything for it to be something as simple as food. 

So, why the hell was it there.

There wasn’t a bump when he’d left to fight Leviathan, so how could there be one now. He runs a hand down it tentatively. It feels different than it did last time as well. There was a softness to it before that is now lost, only feeling hard and firm like a lump beneath his skin. It pokes out, sitting awkwardly between his hips and looking so distinctly wrong he can’t tear his eyes away. 

His mind is already telling him that something is wrong, that whatever this is shouldn’t be happening. Yet he can’t think of anything to do to remedy the problem. He can’t go to Ignis now, not after what he’s done to him. Ignis had already sacrificed so much for him, and even had followed Noctis as he foolishly rushed into a ritual he was unprepared for. There’s nothing more he could ask Ignis to do for him now.

There’s also no way he can ask Gladio or Prompto for help, there would be too many questions he couldn’t answer to explain anything properly. It’s just a bump, he thinks, it’ll probably go away on its own. 

He steps into the shower and turns on the water, taking his time under the hot spray. His body is so sore and lethargic, tired from misuse. He scrubs soap over his hair and body quickly, spending most of the time just standing under the spray of water and letting his mind go blank. For a brief moment his mind suggests giving up, but he can’t. There’s no way he can just give up now, not after all the sacrifices people have made. Not with everyone counting on him. He has to finish this.

Finally, after what must have been far too long he climbs out the shower. He grabs a towel from a stack by the sink and dries himself off and redresses. There’s no one in the bedroom when he returns again, only the distant sound of talking and moving from the other room reminds him that he’s not alone. He shuffles out of the room in the same direction Ignis had before, legs still stiff and sore. It’s not long before he finds everyone sitting around a dining table eating quietly.

“Hey, Noct” Prompto greets with a smile, “Come sit down.”

There’s a decent serving of food on the table that smells delicious. Noctis’ looks at it curiously before glancing towards Ignis, who seems to answer Noctis’ questioning stare without even seeing it. Sometimes it’s creepy how well he knows him.

“The Secretary was kind enough to put us up in some lodging while we recovered, the hotel has been quite accommodating to say the least” he nods, slowly working at his food while Gladio occasionally realigns his hands so that they successfully travel between the plate and his mouth.

“Mm” Noctis acknowledges quietly before pulling out a chair for himself.

“It would be the right thing to thank her for what she’s done for us” Ignis says, ever still being his advisor. 

“Right…” Noctis nods, serving himself some of the food laid out on the table without looking at anyone.

There’s a moment of silence as everyone eats, not knowing what’s right to say or do in the moment. 

“What… what happened, after the Leviathan?” Noctis finally asks.

“Ah, well…” Ignis pauses, he’s not entirely sure how to summarise everything to Noctis. It felt like it was something he could never truly admit to him.

“Ignis ran off to save you when he saw the destruction that was going on, by the time me and Prompto got there Ravus was leaving and he was lying next to your unconscious body, barely holding himself together. It’s a damn miracle that he survived at all considering-”

“That’s quite enough, Gladio” Ignis says firmly, “I’ve already told you that Ravus was only there for Lady Lunafreya, he meant us no harm. Ardyn on the other hand…”

“Ardyn? He was there?” Noctis says, barely restraining the fear that overcomes him when he thinks of the man.

“Yes… When I found you unconscious, Ardyn appeared. He threatened your life, I only did what was necessary to protect you.”

“He… You what?” 

“It does not matter now, what’s done is done. I can accept the consequences of my actions, I only hope that in time you will as well” Ignis says solemnly.

Gladio huffs and turns away from him, anger unhidden on his face s he seethes over what’s happened. He was Noctis’ shield, it’s his duty to keep him safe, so how did it end up with Ignis putting his life on the line instead. How could he have failed to protect two people he cares for. 

The room falls back into silence again. Awkward glances are passed around to everyone as Prompto looks nervously between his friends. He wants so desperately to lighten the mood and make everyone smile, but there isn’t a single thing he could say to make anyone happy right now. 

“…Noct, where is it?” Gladio asks, just cocking his head to the side to look at him.

“Where’s what?” 

“The ring, you’re not wearing it. Where is it?” Gladio asks again, firmer now with his brow furrowed.

“…It’s in my pocket” he says softly, glancing down at the table.

“What good will it do there?” Gladio says, face only getting increasingly more scrunched as he looks at Noctis, “The King is supposed to wear the ring of Lucii, aren’t you the King?”

“Y-yeah, but-”

“But what? Aren’t you the King?” 

“No- I-”

“No? You aren’t the King?”

“That’s not- Gladio-”

“What is it then? Luna fought to make sure that ring came to you, this whole time she protected it so that you could finish this. So why the hell aren’t you wearing it?”

“I- I can’t- I can’t-”

“Why not?” Gladio growls at him, voice getting louder in the echo of the quiet room.

“Because I’m not a King!” Noctis shouts, hands banging against the wood table, rattling plates and cutlery. “I’m not… not someone you should follow.”

“Bullshit” Gladio says, pushing himself up from the table to stalk away, not even letting Noctis get another word in. 

Noctis crumples on himself, elbows resting on the table as he buries his face in his hands and lets out a shaky breath. He can’t even stop his shoulders from tensing when Prompto puts a reassuring hand there. His breathing only gets heavier as he tries to keep his emotions from bubbling over. He’s barely had the time to process everything that’s happened and yet somehow Gladio expects him to have already accepted the burden that ring carries. He can’t do it, he just can’t.

It would feel like a lie, like he was tarnishing his father’s legacy by wearing the ring now. He’s done nothing to deserve it and nothing to prove himself worthy to his ancestors. All he’s done is managed to get his ass kicked by every possible being out there and then let his friends pick up the pieces. What kind of leader does that?

“Hey, it’s alright. You don’t have to be ready right now, there’s still lots of time-” Prompto starts to speak but stops when Noctis pushes back his own chair and stands.

“I’m going back to bed” he says, turning on his heel and walking back to the room he woke up in.

“But… Wait, Noct- you didn’t even finish eating?” Prompto turns in his chair to watch Noctis shuffle out of the room with dragged feet.

“Not hungry” he mumbles back, closing the heavy door behind him as he secludes himself in his room again.  
His eyes are already bleary with tears by the time he pulls the covers around him and curls up against the pillow.

\--

There’s a heavy scraping noise, like the sound of metal being dragged through dirt that echoes louder and louder. Every few seconds the thump can be heard, and the vibrations run through Noctis’ body as whatever it is shakes the ground. He wants to open his eyes to find whatever the noise is, but his whole body feels heavy. His eyelids weigh down on his eyes like a heavy blanket and all he can do is squirm as the sound gets louder.

There’s a hissing punctuated with animalistic sounding clicks that fill his ears that makes him flinch at the familiar sound. He pushes the palm of his hand down beside him, expecting the soft press of a mattress but instead feeling the gritty texture of dirt sliding under his palm. His eyebrow furrows and his head rolls to the side as he questions the feeling. His eyelids still feel heavy and he can barely force them open as he slowly becomes more aware of his surroundings.

He’s cold, his body is freezing. Muscles and limbs shivering like a chill breeze is blowing over them. He can feel no soft blankets or even clothes brushing against his skin, yet under the freezing cold of his body is a pool of warmth. Something surrounding him is so hot against his skin, all against his back and thighs and slowly spreading out to touch his limbs until he’s dragging his fingers through it. It feels wet, warm and sticky under his touch, mixing together with the dirt to make a muddy paste. 

The chittering grows louder until he can practically feel it being hissed in his face and he finally finds the strength to wrench his eyelids open, only he regrets it immediately. He’s greeted with the hideous face of a ziggurat looming over him when his eyes blink open, and if he had the strength and the room between him and the monster’s face he would’ve thrown himself as far away from it as possible. Instead it remained impossibly close to him, hot breath washing over his face and stinking like old meat. His breathing comes in rushed, chest heaving to try pull in any oxygen at the sight of the beast.

There’s a sharp whoosh beside him followed by a heavy thunk as it’s sharp arm slams into the ground by his head. Noctis yells quietly at the motion, squeezing his eyes shut again like it will protect him. He wriggles under the beast, feeling the hot, sticky mud cling to his skin. He wills his eyes open again, still staring straight into the ziggurat’s face, only to glance down at his body. He’s naked, but at this stage he’s not surprised by his own nudity. What’s more terrifying is what the warmth he’s surrounded by is, clinging to his skin and muddying the ground around him. 

Bright red blood pools around him. Ever growing and spreading further and further around his body, slowly consuming the hole ground. It’s thick and red and deep, at least and inch of it floods the ground beneath his body, making it ripple and slosh whenever he moved. His breathing on worsens, coming in sharp and fast as the ziggurat only presses itself closer to him, making his body sink into the blood more as it oozes from some unknown location. He squeezes his eyes shut and wills himself not to scream, not to make a sound, as the ziggurat’s teeth glisten with spit and press into the skin of his throat.

\--

Ignis walks into Noctis’ room slowly, one hand holding his cane in front of him as he navigates his way into the room. He’s slowly become more used walking through their apartment without his sight, but he still stumbles and bumps into things now and then. It’s frustrating to feel so helpless all the time. He’s so used to being the person to keep watch of everything that happened and make quiet assessments of it, and now he can’t even see what’s in front of him when he walks. 

He can hear noises from the room as he walks further into it, the sounds of sheets rustling, and laboured breathing fills the quiet as he shuffles his way around the furniture. He can definitely hear Noctis’ voice quietly whimpering as he steps through the doorway and he approaches the bed quickly, already knowing that the Prince was suffering another nightmare.

There’s a sharp gasp and the creak of springs as Noctis sits up in bed suddenly. He glances around quickly, searching for the dirt or blood or ziggurat that were still fresh in his mind, but he sees nothing but the ornate room and Ignis who steps quietly through the room. Ignis’ can bumps against the bed and then to a cushioned seat that was left near Noctis’ bedside, taking the seat slowly, not quite facing Noctis.

“Are you alright?” he asks cautiously, face already pulled into a worried scowl.

“…Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Noctis retorts, seeing that Ignis is now probably the worst off of the two of them. 

“I’m perfectly fine, Noctis. The wounds are nearly healed, I’m sure my vision will improve in time as well” Ignis says, partially to himself as well as Noctis, “…You were having another nightmare, weren’t you?”

“It’s nothing, I’m fine” Noctis says too quickly to sound fine at all, which only makes Ignis frown more.

“Noct…” Ignis says slowly, folding his hands together in a tight fist, “Perhaps… it might be best if we brought our journey to a close.”

“What? Why?” Noctis says, quickly turning to stare at Ignis in disbelief. Is he seriously suggesting they give up?

“It’s just that…” he sighs deeply, hands twisting together nervously, “We’ve already lost so much. Too much.”

“Are you kidding me?” Noctis says, mouth hanging open in shock, “That’s- that’s exactly why I have to keep going. If I give up now, then their sacrifices would have been for nothing!”

He pauses to drag in some ragged breathes, face scrunched in upset, “and you… you of all people…” His voice cracks like he’s holding back his emotions, like he’s trying to sound stronger than he feels, “You should know that better than anyone.”

Ignis sighs deeply, he hadn’t expected to convince Noctis to give up, but he had hoped to try and persuade him at least a little. It was clear now that there was nothing that would stop Noctis from finishing what they’d started. Even at the cost of his life. 

“The decision is yours to make, and yours alone” Ignis says as he pushes himself from the seat to walk to the foot of the bed, “But do remember we will stand with you always and help you bear your burdens. Don’t be afraid to let us share the load.”

Ignis steps forward, walking until Noctis’ loses sight of him behind the wall. He slumps forward against his knees breathing heavily, a wave of nausea and sadness filling his chest and making him gasp for air. His hand clenches by his side until he pulls to closer until it’s resting over his stomach. His palm lays flat against the hard curve of his stomach and his lips pull into a tight line. Maybe Ignis is right, but that doesn’t mean Noctis has to listen to him. He’s made them deal with enough of his problems up to this stage, it’s time he starts taking responsibility for himself. Accepts the consequences of his actions, no matter what they are.


	11. Chapter 11

He can feel it, even though he’s trying so hard to ignore it. 

There’s a wriggle followed by a thump under the skin on the left side of his stomach and it takes all his strength not to outwardly wince at the sensation. As far as Noctis was concerned, this wasn’t happening. His stomach wasn’t rolling and shifting beneath his skin. He couldn’t feel anything at all, especially not the feeling of something wriggling beneath the surface of his stomach. No, he was completely fine.

Except he wasn’t and hadn’t been in a while. It was a bit over a week ago that he’d felt something moving. At first, he thought it was just his, now much larger, stomach that was constantly making him sick and nauseous. Only it kept getting stronger and more defined until he could practically feel the indent of something pressing out against his skin. It was revolting to even think about, so he didn’t. He ignored it as best he could when it happened and refused to mention it to anyone.

He feels a nudge against his shoulder and vaguely hears the sound of his name as he blinks back into awareness again, turning to look at Prompto beside him.

“Huh?” he says, blinking at the blonde next to him in confusion.

“Dude, you’re spacing out again” Prompto frowns, leaning his elbows on the table in front of him. “Ignis asked if you slept well last night.”

“Oh, uh yeah. Slept fine” Noctis nods simply, turning to stare off into the corner of the train carriage. 

There was only so much you could do on a train hurtling its way through the country side, and they’d taken to mostly sitting in the dining cart playing card games and chatting while the scenery flew past. It had been weeks now since they left Altissia behind to head to Tenebrae, and it was no short trip either. The train would still take several more days until they made it to the city.

“Liar” Prompto huffs, sliding down in his seat more.

“What?” Noctis says, frowning at his best friend.

“Liar. You barely slept at all last night, you had another nightmare, and then spent the rest of the night in the bathroom throwing up until you fell asleep against the toilet seat” Prompto says with a huff. Noctis just stares at him in disbelief, since when did Prompto start snitching on him to Ignis? Wasn’t he supposed to be on his side?

“Is that true Noct?” Ignis says with a tilt of his head, his tone is worried and curious.

“…So what if it is, not the first nightmare I’ve had” he grumbles quietly, curling into himself to shrink away from their questions.

“That’s hardly the point. It’s been a long time and you aren’t showing any signs of improvement, you’ve been sick ever since we got on this train… I’m worried about you, Noct” Ignis says with a genuine concern in his voice, “You’re still welcome to share a room with me instead of Prompto, if you’d like.”

“It’s fine, I like rooming with Prom” Noctis says, not sounding awfully cheerful about staying in the same room as his best friend. Really, it’s exhausting trying to hide how sick he feels or when he’s panicked over a nightmare from him, but at least of the three of them Prompto is the least pushy in trying to help Noctis. He just quietly sits with him through the night, not asking questions or pushing him to talk. 

“…If you insist” Ignis sighs, knowing full well that Noctis has been avoiding any alone time with Ignis since they boarded the train weeks ago. “You know I’m always here to talk if you need to.”

“I’m fine, stop worrying so much” Noctis grumbles, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he feels another sharp thump against his skin, making his nose wrinkle in disgust. 

Another wriggle of movement and there’s a thump on the opposite side of his stomach that makes him hiss under his breath. Prompto’s giving him a worried stare while Gladio quirks an eyebrow at him.

“If you’re gunna hurl again at least go to the bathroom first, I don’t really feel like getting vomit on me. Again” Gladio frowns at Noctis, giving him a displeased look at the memory of accidentally throwing up right in front of Gladio the other day after the train had hit some bumpy terrain. 

“I’m not gunna-” he stops to hold back a gag as something presses right against his gut, making it clench uncomfortably, “…I’ll be right back.”

Noctis pushes himself out of the booth with great difficulty, getting stuck as he tries to manoeuvre his clumsy self and large belly out from the narrow seats. Once he’s finally free he wraps his arms around his middle before hobbling down the carriage towards the nearest bathrooms to hopefully not throw up for the umpteenth time today.

“Guys, something is seriously wrong with him” Prompto says in a hushed urgency once Noctis is out of sight. “I’m really worried.”

“He’s been sick ever since we got on the train, it’s probably just motion sickness” Gladio says dismissively, not paying Prompto’s concern any mind.

“Okay, when has he ever been motion sick before? He wasn’t when we took a boat to Altissia, there’s no way a train is going to make him this sick!” Prompto says, louder now that he’s sure Noctis is out of earshot. “and that doesn’t explain his stomach…”

“What about it?” Ignis asks curiously.

“His stomach… it’s all big and- and round like-”

“Like he’s fat” Gladio interrupts.

“Okay, I’m going to let that slide because you’ve probably never had an inch of fat on you a day in your life, but that is so not how getting fat works. He’s only putting on weight around his stomach, and it’s too round and firm looking to be fat. Something is wrong with him, and he’s not telling us anything.”

Ignis frowns and brings a hand up to his chin, a tell-tale sign that he’s thinking of something to do. What the right way to approach this problem is.

“We need to keep a close eye on him, it would be ideal if we could get him to tell us honestly what’s wrong, but I doubt that he will with his current attitude. Prompto, please let me know about anything you find out.”

“Can do, Iggy.”

\--

He really hates throwing up. I mean in what world does it make sense for your entire stomach to just decide it doesn’t want anything you put in it anymore and forces it back out? I mean it’s stupid, you’re supposed to eat to live, but how are you supposed to live if everything you eat just comes right back up. It would also be a lot more bearable if it didn’t leave his throat sore and stinging afterwards, walking around feeling like death is just a few steps behind.

Luckily, he hadn’t thrown up this time, he’d made it to the bathroom and curled up over the toilet as usual, taking slow deep breaths as he rode out the nausea, but finally it stopped. Just as the roiling of his stomach had after he had a moment to take deep breaths and let everything slow down for a second. It’s a lot easier to relax when you don’t have three people breathing down your neck constantly, not that Noctis isn’t used to Gladio and Ignis breathing down his neck. It’s just that now he actually has something to hide from them.

He sits back, leaning his weight on the wall of the cramped toilet space. His hands automatically come up to support the heft of his stomach, helping to shift the weight as he wriggles backwards. Getting on the floor like this wasn’t an easy task but compared to getting off the floor it was a piece of cake. There was no easy or graceful way of pulling himself up from where his sat. His body just felt so heavy and slow, and trying to find an angle that allowed him to comfortably push himself off the ground without his lopsided balance tipping him over was nearly impossible. 

There’s a knock at the door that startles him, shortly followed by muffled words.

“Noct? You in there?” Prompto’s voice sounds through the door.

Noctis quickly groans out a “Yeah” as he grabs the edge of the toilet and sink to help lift himself of the ground. He huffs as he finally pulls his weight off the floor onto slightly wobbly feet before he’s balanced again. He hears Prompto calling his name again as he finally reaches the door and pulls it open, making the blond jump as the door is suddenly wrenched open in front of him.

“What?” Noctis grumbles, only a little winded from the climb back to being upright again.

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure you were okay… Did you throw up again?” Prompto asks with a concerned tilt to his head, he says the question softly like he’s saying something only meant for Noctis’ ears.

“I’m fine, just… motion sickness” Noctis nods, like he didn’t just pick that excuse from the top of his head. 

“Okay… even though we’re stopped at a station right now?” Prompto says sheepishly, small smile tugging at his lips as he rubs the back of his neck nervously.

“…Really bad motion sickness” Noctis says again, pursing his lip at the poor excuse of a lie he’s forcing out. 

“Yeah, really bad…” Prompto nods, afraid to push any further than that, “uhm… we were gunna take a quick walk outside while the trains still stopped, y’know. Stretch the legs, see the vast nothingness that is the desert we’re travelling through, fun stuff. You coming?” 

Noctis inwardly groans, he has no desire to leave the train and even less desire to be moving at all right now. He’d really rather go to his room and just lie down, but Prompto’s giving him that expectant look, the same look he would give him when asking to come over after school even when they both knew he was supposed to be busy, but it never stopped them. Noctis’ was a little weak to that look.

“I guess?” he shrugs, kind of hoping that Prompto won’t do exactly what Noctis thinks he’s going to do, which of course he does.

“Awesome!” he grins, grabbing Noctis’ hand and walking him through the carriage to the open doors and onto the platform. The sunlight is immediately very bright, and the wind blows through their hair.

Everything looks pretty much the same in the desert, it’s either sand or dirt with only the smattering of plant life here and there. It’s a whole bunch of nothing to stare at on their long journey. It doesn’t take Prompto long to spot Gladio and Ignis over by a small storefront, probably stocking up on curatives knowing them. 

“Hey! We’re here” Prompto says, trying to announce their arrival as casually as possible so that Ignis knows they’re here as well.

“Good, how are you feeling, Noct?” Ignis says, not bothering to turn towards Prompto’s voice.

“I already said I was fine, didn’t I?” Noctis grumbles lowly.

“Yes, but that was before your trip to the bathroom to be sick” Ignis lets his eyebrow quirk up at Noctis’ sour attitude. He knows he’s putting it on to distance himself, now if only he could figure out why. He would hope Noctis would be more mature than to distance himself just because of Ignis’ eye injury. 

“Well I’m not sick, so I’m fine and you don’t need to ask” he huffs again, he’s sick of repeating himself. Especially of repeating lies.

“I apologize for caring about your wellbeing then” Ignis says, turning his face to the side away from Noctis’ voice. 

Noctis shuts up after that, feeling as though anything more he could say would only hurt more. Ignis was just concerned about him, which was more than he deserved at the moment. Yet all he could do was bitterly push him away, to keep him at arm’s length so that he doesn’t become too suspicious of Noctis’ strange behaviour. Of how much he truly struggles without him, without all of them. 

His shifts the weight from one leg to the other, feeling the familiar ache in his right thigh and hip that flares up every now and then. Even with his wounds having healed weeks ago, he can’t help the phantom pains he has and the slight limp in his step that he tries to pretend doesn’t happen. 

Gladio seems to be focusing on whatever scrap of junk he’s turning over in his hands, because he hasn’t looked at Noctis once since he walked over with Prompto, which is something Noctis has noticed him doing more recently. If Gladio wasn’t scolding him and giving him some half-assed threat, then he wasn’t talking to him, and Noctis was fine with that. He had nothing to say to his Shield at the moment, and nothing he could say would change anything anyway. It was better like this.

“Maybe we should get something to eat before we get on the train” Prompto speaks up nervously, followed by a weak laugh, “’cause I know I’m sick of train food, heh…”

The comment doesn’t receive the enthusiasm or even grumbled comments of agreeance, just a few silent nods and a gentle “sure” mumbled into the emptiness surrounding them. Prompto’s trying at least. He doesn’t want his friends to break apart like this, and he’s trying desperately to keep some light-heartedness in the group, but every time he tries it’s like talking to a brick wall. A brick wall that really doesn’t want to be friends with the other brick walls. 

Gladio places his hand on the small of Ignis’ back to turn him in the direction of the small café resting on the platform as the group walks towards it. It’s old and empty looking, only made to serve meals to passers-by on their long journeys through the dry land. It’s just as small and cramped on the inside as well, and the four of them barely squeeze onto a small table. A kind, elderly looking woman takes their order before shuffling back behind the counter. 

“You didn’t order anything, Noct?” Prompto asks. On a normal day he wouldn’t have bothered to worry about it, Noctis was notoriously picky when it came to food, and sometimes he’d rather go hungry than eat something he didn’t find appealing. But these days Noct was opting out of eating whenever he could, and it was more than concerning. Even if none of them made an effort to stop him beyond questions. 

“Not hungry” was the monotone response Noctis gave. He didn’t feel like he should have to explain himself beyond that, if he wasn’t hungry then why would he eat. Especially when the smell of whatever was cooking in the kitchen was making his stomach do flips again. 

“Could have fooled me” Gladio says offhandedly, not even looking at Noctis as he speaks.

“The hell does that mean?” Noctis says, anger seeping into his words as he stares at the older man. 

“It means by the looks of you I’d say you’ve eaten plenty” Gladio says, glancing at Noctis for a second before turning and staring hard at Prompto who returns the stare with a frown. It pisses Noctis off more than it should that Gladio is looking more at Prompto than he will Noctis while speaking to him. Even more so after saying something so poignant and then ignoring him like it didn’t happen. 

Noctis fumbles for something to say momentarily, taken aback by the unexpected comment about his changing body. He knew it was impossible to completely hide it, but at least none of them had brought it up yet. Guess that’s over now.

“…If you have something to say to me, why don’t you just say it” Noctis hisses lowly, even with how empty the café is he’s not foolish enough to try draw unnecessary attention. 

“Alright” Gladio says, trailing his eyes away from Prompto to finally stare at Noctis directly, “You’re fat, you’re sick, and you’re hiding something. Happy?”

Noctis’ eyebrows shoot up, he’d expected something more along the lines of ‘you need to train more’ or ‘you’re out of shape’ not something so direct, shooting down all hopes Noctis had that he was doing a good job of hiding from them. 

“a-am not” is the meagre response he comes up with, he’s unable to come up with anything more intelligent that that to say as Gladio stares at him for longer than he has in weeks. 

“Can’t even admit it when we call you out, huh?” Gladio says, tilting his head back and crossing his arms to look down his nose and Noctis in the most condescending way, “What are you so afraid of?”

That there’s something terrible growing inside me, Noctis thinks, but he’s not brave enough to force the words out. Not brave enough to admit that he maybe fucked up a lot worse than any of them thought he did. So, he sits silently and lets his head fall down to stare at the tale. Gladio huffs in annoyance, a muffled ‘typical’ under his breath as the elderly woman returns to deliver their food.

The group falls into another uneasy silence as they so often do these days, none of them willing to try to lighten the conversation when they know all attempts will only fail. Noctis sits back in his seat and folds his arms over himself to try and force more distance between him and the table. He doesn’t want to continue the conversation or entertain the idea that he wants to talk at all. He’s also trying to distance himself from the greasy sent that wafts from the food on the table, it makes his stomach clench painfully just looking at it.

He’s taking slow shallow breathes through his mouth trying to put up with the nauseating scent until its an appropriate time to leave the table so that it doesn’t look like he’s running away from them. Even if that’s what he wants to do. He can feel Prompto stealing nervous glances at him between bites of his food, but Gladio doesn’t bother looking at him while he eats. In fact, it feels even more like he’s ignoring him now that he was before. 

Until he pushes his half-eaten plate of food in front of Noctis and looks at him with a firm scowl. 

“Eat something” he says, clearly not suggesting, but demanding that Noctis listen to him.

Noctis can’t help but scrunch his nose up at the strong smell of cooked eggs and whatever oil they must have used to cook the vegetables in. The whole thing smells so dense it’s a wonder he hasn’t already thrown up, even though Noctis knows he would probably love eating this normally.

“Don’t wanna” he says childishly, sliding the plate back towards Gladio, who looks extremely displeased with the action.

“I said eat” he growls, pushing the plate back. 

“I said no” Noctis growls back, he feels like a kid throwing a tantrum when he pulls his arms tighter around himself and turns away from Gladio.

“Fucking eat something, unless you’re trying to starve yourself to death as well” he hisses angrily, trying to bring the plate even closer to Noctis.

“Gladio-“ Ignis tries to interject, but Gladio won’t let him get a word in to defend Noctis.

“No, it’s our job to keep the idiot alive, even if that means reminding him that he has to actually eat food if he wants to live.”

At that Gladio takes his fork and stabs a piece of particularly greasy looking meat and brings it up to Noctis’ face, pushing it closer even as Noctis tries to retreat.

“Eat it” he says again, food almost directly in front of Noctis’ mouth now.

Noctis can’t say anything in response, not with the meat practically pressed to his lips now thanks to Gladio. He can’t even try to breathe through his mouth to lessen the overpowering smell that fills his nose. His stomach is still doing painful flips that are only making it harder to keep his composure. He knows his face is contorted in pain and disgust and it probably looks like the most ridiculous thing to anyone else that might see it, but right now it’s his priority to keep himself from throwing up on the table. If not just to prove Gladio wrong when he knows he’s right.

Gladio presses the fork directly to his lips and the immediate feeling of something warm and slippery against his mouth makes his eyes water and he can’t hold back any longer. He stumbles off the chair with a poorly disguised gag as he tries to keep himself from falling over with how quickly he pushed himself from the chair. His stomach only clenches worse now and he can already feel his mouth fill with saliva as his throat tightens. He claps his hands over his mouth as he tries to repress the burning feeling of vomit rushing up his throat. 

He stumbles out of the café and is lucky to find a trash can only metres away from the entrance. He can’t hold it in for any longer, and just manages to make it to the bin before he’s coughing up his measly breakfast. It burns his throat and makes involuntary tears leak from the corner of his eyes as he tries to gasp in breathes between bouts of throwing up. He hates it so much. Hates that this- this illness has made him a shivering mess that can’t even stomach the smells of foods without losing his stomach. 

He’s not quite done throwing up when he hears the door to the café open and Prompto cautiously calling out his name as he steps closer to him. Noctis wants to run or hide, wants to be anywhere but throwing up in a trash can on a train platform in the middle of the day. His shoulders are still shaking with dry heaves as the taste of stomach acid fills his mouth and makes his nose run. He feels as disgusting as he probably looks.

“You alright, buddy?” Prompto says gently, making sure he’s standing within Noctis’ line of sight before putting a, hopefully, reassuring hand on his back. He’s learned his lesson about trying to touch Noctis’ before he’s aware of it.

Noctis says nothing, he doesn’t feel that it’s a question that really needs an answer. Especially when he is so obviously not alright. He turns his head away from Prompto and spits into the bin again before finally standing up. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand before shrugging off Prompto’s touch.

“Going back to the train” he says, already turning away from Prompto to take slow steps back. He hopes he can make it all the way back to his room alone, but his legs are pretty wobbly right now. “Go back, Prompto.”

“Y-you sure? I can come with you- I mean Gladio’s in a bad mood anyway so I don’t think he’ll be any fun to hang out with, but I can help. I mean, you’re tired right?” Prompto rambles quietly, giving Noctis a look that screams worry and ‘please don’t leave me with the big angry man’ but Noctis doesn’t really feel like pretending anymore. And he can only do that when he’s alone.

“I said go back.” 

“Wha- but- Wait, Noct” Prompto tries to stop him, but Noctis keeps walking. He doesn’t want to upset him, but he can’t do this anymore. He needs a break from all their prying and overprotectiveness. He’s always hated that. Ever since he was a kid everyone always coddled him so much, never let him out of their sights. There was always someone watching him, and he just needed to be alone for once. To not have someone question his every move.

He can’t hear Prompto calling out to him anymore, and he doesn’t feel the presence of someone following him. As soon as he steps back onto the train and knows he wasn’t followed he lets himself slump against the wall of the train carriage to let out a few uneasy breaths. 

He feels a little dizzy as he tries to catch his breath again, he knows he’ll probably pass out the second he hits the pillow, but he’s still a walk away from his room. Though if it weren’t for how sick, lethargic and heavy his body felt, he’s sure the walk wouldn’t even bother him, but now it felt like a marathon. He heaves himself up again, readjusts his too tight shirt over his belly, and begins his slow walk back to his room. Hopefully he can rest for a few hours before something disturbs his sleep. But something always disturbs his sleep these days. 

He just hopes he survives this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwww i felt bad making everyone so mean to each other, but thats just how they are right now!! everyones in a bad mood!! and things only get worse before they get better... also ive realised its a lot harder to write chapters when its not just monster porn, hhhhahah forgive me for slow irregular updates


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so so so so sorry about how long it took to write this chapter. I don't even have an excuse, it literally just sat at like 2,500 words for months and I didn't work on it at all. but it's done now! we're getting close to the end, so not long for poor Noct now! thanks to everyone whos been waiting patiently for new chapters!! love ya <3

The room was dark and the only sounds to be heard was the rattling of the train moving across the tracks and the even breaths of Noctis’ sleeping body. Prompto had stayed awake waiting to hear those little snores, hoping that this would be one of Noctis’ more peaceful nights. Today had been rough enough for all of them, and he could use the extra sleep. Every day it looked like he woke up more tired than he was when he went to sleep, and the fatigue was definitely taking its toll. 

Prompto slipped out of his bunk and tiptoed to the edge of Noctis’ bed where he lay sleeping. He was resting on his side, hands curled up in front of his chest. His mouth opens as small puffs of air flowed in and out with his breathing. Prompto smiled a bit, his best friend was pretty cute when he wasn’t making stupid grumpy faces all the time, though Prompto doesn’t blame him for the grumpiness.

But he didn’t stay awake just to stare at Noctis’ sleeping face. No, he needed to see something, something he knew Noctis would never let him see with permission, but he couldn’t keep ignoring it. He had to do something. Even if that meant invading Noctis’ privacy a little. 

He waves a cautious hand in front of Noctis’ face, checking to see if he would move at all. When the Prince continues to sleep peacefully, Prompto moves his hands down to slide back the covers until his stomach was revealed. The edge of his shirt was already riding up on the mound of his stomach, which only made it easier for Prompto. 

He reached out and grabbed the hem with gentle fingers and pulled it up until the dome of his stomach was exposed. It really was massive, and it only looked even bigger without clothes covering it. The skin was pink and tight and Prompto could even see thin stripes of stretch marks along the sides of it. It looked painfully tight, which only made him more worried for his friend’s health. He wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to touch it without the threat of waking Noctis looming over him, but he knew the information it would give him was too important to pass up- wait, what the heck was that?

Prompto pauses his thinking to stare at the skin again, unsure if what he saw really happened or if he imagined it. He waits, practically holding his breath until he sees it. A bump under the skin that lifts and moves down a few inches before disappearing. As if to prove itself even more real another bump happens on the other side as well, shifting his stomach as the skin stretches to accommodate it. Noctis groans a little, pressing his face into the pillow and Prompto jumps back slightly. 

Something’s moving. Inside his best friend. There’s something moving inside his best friend.

He has to tell Ignis. 

He crawls over to the cabin door, opening it as quietly as he can before slipping out into the train’s hallway. Luckily, Gladio and Ignis’ room was only a few rooms down and it takes Prompto only a few hurried steps before he’s knocking at the door with hushed panic. After a short round of knocks the door is pulled open and a disgruntled Gladio makes an appearance.

“What?” he grumbles, clearly just having climbed out of bed at the sound of a madman banging on the door.

“I have to tell you something! About Noct!” Prompto panics, voice frantic like the world will end if he can’t tell them right now.

“What’s going on?” Ignis’ voice calls from inside the cabin and at that Prompto pushes his way past Gladio, who steps aside anyway, to kneel in front of Ignis hurriedly. 

“Iggy! This is bad, so bad! So much worse than we thought!” he worries, gripping at Ignis’ hand that’s resting on the man’s knee.

“Calm down, Prompto. Tell me what happened” Ignis says, trying to calm him down and keep the edge of fear from sneaking into his own voice, “What’s wrong?”

“Noct, he was sleeping, so I thought it would be a good time to try get a closer look at his stomach since he would never ever let any of us near him when he was awake, so I-“

“You what?” Gladio groans.

“Not important! What’s important is his stomach, or what’s in it!” Prompto only barely manages to keep his voice at a reasonable level for the late time it is.

“What are you talking about?” Ignis says, head titled in confusion as his brows knit together.

“His stomach. It moved, Iggy. There’s- I don’t know, but there’s something in there! Something that shouldn’t be…alive” Prompto says, worried eyes looking up at Ignis. 

“That’s impossible” Gladio says, but his face is still pulled into a frown like he’s still considering whether he believes Prompto or not.

“…is that true, Prompto? You really saw something move?” Ignis asks, voice quiet and strained, fear building in his chest.

“Yes! Something pressed up against his skin and it moved! I could see the bump!” 

The room falls silent again as Ignis rests his chin on his hands, deep in thought about this new information. He had thought there might have been some relation to Noctis’ recent illness and that one night, but he had nothing of solid proof to prove that. Nothing solid that could connect those two events. But maybe this was the evidence he needed, if only he could see it for himself.

“I need to speak to him, alone. I have an idea, but it’s not an easy one to digest” Ignis sighs, he can’t tell them what happened yet. It’s not his place to, and Noctis trusts him to keep his secret and he will. It doesn’t mean he can’t urge Noctis to be honest with him though.

“Right now?” Prompto questions, he doesn’t think Noctis will appreciate being woken up just to talk.

“No, tomorrow I will speak with him. There isn’t much we can do until then. Thank you, Prompto, for bringing this to my attention” Ignis nods, and like that he has finished the conversation.

Prompto nods simply as he climbs back on his feet and retreats to his room. Ignis and Gladio sit in silence as the door shuts. This changes things. This changes so many things. 

Prompto walks back to his room quietly, slipping inside with the gentlest of steps. Yet when he lets the door slide shut there’s a noise of ruffled bedsheets behind him that makes him jump.

“Where’d you go?” Noctis mumbles sleepily, still sprawled in bed, looking exhausted.

“Oh, uh, I had to ask Iggy something” Prompto blurts out, its not exactly the lie he was hoping to make up on the spot, but too late now.

“This late? Isn’t it way past his bed time” Noctis yawns with a lazy smile pulling at his mouth before settling back into his pillow. “What was so important anyway?”

“I was, uh, feeling sick- from lunch, so I wanted to know if Ignis had anything… um, since I felt sick” Prompto mumbles awkwardly, nodding to himself like he’s agreeing with his half assed lies.

“…Sure, I believe that” Noctis says, rolling his eyes. Prompto’s never been good under pressure like that, but Noctis is both too tired and keeping too many of his own secrets to judge right now, so he lets it slide this time.

“C’mon, dude…give me a break” Prompto laughs with a lopsided smile, “so what about you? What woke you up?”

“…just restless, that’s all” he says with a frown, shuffling under the covers more.

“Sure, I believe that” Prompto chuckles softly, throwing Noctis’ words back at him, which only makes him frown more. “Nightmare?”

“…No. Stomach ache” Noctis admits weakly.

Prompto has to hold himself back to not let his face pull into a knowing scowl. He thinks back to movement he saw and how it stretched and pulled at Noctis’ skin. He can’t imagine that it would be comfortable or easy to try sleep through whatever it was that plagued Noctis’ body. He didn’t want to say anything either, he’s not sure what Ignis wanted to speak to him about, but he doesn’t want to give Noctis a reason to avoid him. He doesn’t want Noctis to lose his trust in him either. He can already see him pulling away more and more each day. he’d only be giving him more reason to distance himself by saying anything now.

He decides that this moment needs more than words.

“Alright then, scoot” He says, putting his knee on the edge of the small bunk and climbing up it until he can manoeuvre his way around Noctis and lie down on the bed behind him.

Noctis’ confused look only turns to a face of inconvenience as Prompto squishes his way into the small space between Noctis’ back and the wall.

“Seriously?” he asks as he’s forced to move as Prompto slides under the covers.

“Yes, seriously” Prompto smiles, “it has been too long since we had some good cuddling happening here.”

Noctis sighs, but makes no further complaints as Prompto settles in. The bunks are already small enough as it is, and the two of them barely squish onto the mattress. Prompto’s chest is pressed flush to his back and he drapes his arm over Noctis’ as they shuffle to get comfortable in the small space. 

“Suit yourself, but you’re not allowed to complain about having a sore back or anything tomorrow” Noctis grumbles quietly as he presses his face against the pillow again, trying to get back to sleep. 

“Not a peep” Prompto laughs, snuggling up closer to Noctis as he closes his eyes. It’s the first peaceful night they’ve had in a long time.

\--

Noctis rested his forehead against the table, it was by no means comfortable, but his head pounded, and his body ached in the worst ways. He wasn’t even sure why he was still up, he should’ve just gone back to bed but instead he was sitting on one of the train seats, face down against the table. 

“Hey, you feeling alright?” an eerily familiar voice says, it sends a shiver running down Noctis’ spine. A sense of dread pooling into his stomach.

Noctis buries his head into his arms more, trying to pretend he didn’t just hear Ardyn’s voice. It’s not real. It’s just a trick his mind is playing on him. He hopes it is at least.

“Noct” The voice sings out to him playfully, “Hello? Noct? What are you pouting for?”

Noctis grumbles at the teasing of Ardyn’s voice. Hates the smug sound with everything he is.

“Stop it” he mumbles quietly with his head still buried in his arms.

“Stop what? Trying to be your friend?” There’s a strange pause in the voice, something that almost sounds cautious or worried. Not that Noctis believes Ardyn could ever feel those kinds of emotions.

“You’re not real” Noctis hisses, head still throbbing painfully even when he’s only raising his voice slightly.

“What?” He pauses, “What are you saying, Noct? Of course, I’m real.”

“No, you’re not. Go away” Noctis hisses again, anger rising in his chest. He doesn’t need Ardyn tormenting him in his dreams and in real life. It’s already too much as it is.

“Do you seriously… want me to leave?” His voice sounds almost timid now, afraid of something. That confuses Noctis the most. He’s used to Ardyn laughing at him, teasing him and tormenting him. He doesn’t know what this means.

“Yes! Leave me alone-” Noctis says, voice raised as he pushes his head up from the table, only his eyes make contact with Prompto who sits beside him rather than the Niflheim Chancellor he expected. He looks all around him in confusion, expecting to see Ardyn stalking off in some direction be he sees nothing. Only Prompto’s hurt face as he moves to stand.

“Wait!” Noctis yelps, grabbing Prompto’s wrist and holding him still, “Don’t go.”

“What?” Prompto frowns, eyes still shining with hurt and just the glimmer of anger. “But you just said-”

“Only because I thought it was- I didn’t know it was you!” Noctis says, and it even sounds like a lie to his ears. He winces at the look Prompto gives him.

“You didn’t know it was me?” Prompto frowns, he turns around to face Noctis more “who did you think it was?” 

Noctis pauses. Can he admit it? Can he tell Prompto about the dreams, the voices, the hallucinations? He doesn’t know what Prompto would say to him if he did. 

“I… I thought it was Gladio” Noctis says, voice still hesitant under Prompto’s scrutiny.

“You… thought I was Gladio?” Prompto says with a pause before he bursts out laughing, “Dude, what?! In what world do I sound anything like Gladio!”

“Heh, yeah… Sorry, I just have a headache” Noctis says, still trying to come up with excuses.

“Ouch, fair enough… even though I’m not sure if I should be offended or flattered that you thought I was Gladio” Prompto continues with a snicker as he sits back down.

He pauses for a moment and Noctis swears he sees Prompto glance down to his stomach before quickly returning his gaze to his face. He chews on his lip nervously.

“So, uh… have you talked to Ignis today?” Prompto says awkwardly, only raising Noctis’ suspicion to the question.

“No… Haven’t seen him around much, why?” Noctis asks with a frown. Apparently now it’s Prompto’s turn to lie badly.

“Oh, n-nothing! I think he’s just worried about you, y’know specs, can’t go a minute without mothering someone, hahaha” Prompto laughs nervously, eyebrows turned up in a worried frown even if his lips pull into a lopsided grin.

“Hmph… You’d think he’d spend more time taking care of himself now, since he’s the one still recovering from Altissia…” Noctis sighs, sinking deeper into the plush train seat.

“…We’re all still recovering, Noct, you included. Not all of our struggles might be as obvious as Ignis’ right now, but no one had it easy. We all need to take care of ourselves and each other… Don’t forget that” Prompto says, genuine worry filling his blue eyes as he leans closer to Noctis. 

They all know Noctis has been pushing himself too much recently. Guilt forcing him to keep moving when it’s so very obvious that he’s sick and tired. He needs to remember that he’s also a victim of the battle they fought, he doesn’t have to be strong all the time, that’s why he’s got his friends. This journey was not meant to be taken alone.

“We still have a job to do, and we can’t rest until we get the Crystal back. I can’t rest until this is over…” Noctis’ eyes drift off, staring hard into the distance. How could he possibly relax at a time like this, when things have gone from bad to worse. Where everything is on the line. 

“Noct…” Prompto sighs, but Noctis pushes himself up from his seat onto wobbly feet before Prompto can say anything else.

“I’m going to take a nap” he says, waddling his way into the seat aisle and towards the cabins they slept in. 

“A-alright, have a good nap then” Prompto nods with an awkward smile. He says nothing more, just quietly watches Noctis walk down the aisle with one hand on his back and the other trailing along the backs of chairs to support him. When the door shuts behind him Prompto pulls out his phone and rings Ignis. 

“He’s headed back to our room, so now’s your chance to talk.”

\--

Ignis is standing outside of his room when he arrives, propped up beside the door holding his cane tightly with both hands. Noctis pauses when he first sees him, wondering if it’s worth the effort to go to his room or just turn around now. He knows there’s no way of avoiding Ignis if he wants to get into his room, but the ache in his back is too strong for him to spend any longer sitting in uncomfortable train seats. 

He walks up to the cabin door and starts sliding it open, and Ignis has already stood up and turned to face him, probably having heard his approach before the rattling of the door gave away his position.

“Noct, we need to talk.”

Fuck, just what he needed. Ignis to approach him with the need of a ‘talk’. Has anything good ever come from having a ‘talk’? 

“I’m really tired, Ignis, can’t it wait?” Noctis sighs, stepping into the room as Ignis follows him. 

“I believe it is more important than you realise” Ignis says sternly, clearly, he won’t take no for an answer.

Noctis sighs heavily, he should have expected as much. “What is it then?”

“It has come to my attention that I may have been more negligent of your needs than I originally thought. I assumed you would be more willing to come to me or the others if you we’re going through something difficult, but I see now it was wrong of me to put that burden on yourself. Noctis, I only want to help you” Ignis says, voice tight with emotion. 

Noctis’ face is pulled in a frown, he doesn’t want to have this conversation. It’s practically asking him to admit that he’s a screw up and can’t handle things on his own. He’d like to at least think his pride is better than that.

“I’m fine, Ignis, I’ve already told you that. There are more important things to worry about now anyway” Noctis says, he’s facing Ignis with his arms crossed, standing in the middle of the small room.

“Noct, you’re not making a convincing argument here. We all know how sick you’ve been, Prompto has told me how worried he is about you countless times” Ignis urges, taking a step closer to Noctis. 

“I said I’m fine, so just drop it would you?” Noctis hisses, defences going up even more now that he knows Prompto has been snitching on him more than he realised. 

“I will not just ‘drop it’ this is your health we’re talking about here, Noct. I know about what happened in Altissia, you cannot pretend that that day doesn’t still haunt you. What if this is related? What if this is worse than you realise?” Ignis continues to step closer to Noctis, who’s only curling up on himself more as Ignis speaks.

“…Stop” Noctis mumbles, barely heard as Ignis continues to speak.

“I may not be able to see, but I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying. Please, stop trying to push us away when we only seek to help you” Ignis says, hand reaching out to grab what he’d hoped was Noctis’ hand or wrist, but instead his palm makes contact with something hard and round, warm and covered in fabric. It takes him a moment and Noctis’ sharp gasp to realise that it must be his stomach. 

His eyebrows raise at the taught skin under his hand, it feels as hard as a basketball and just as round. He slides his hand to the side slightly, feeling the curve of it when suddenly something nudges against his fingers. He gasps at the feeling, Prompto was right. There was something inside him. 

His hand is suddenly smacked away and Ignis comes to his senses, hearing Noctis uneven breaths as he tries to recollect his thoughts.

“I- I’m sorry, Noct- I-” 

“Get. Out.” Noctis says angrily through gritted teeth. Ignis flinches back slightly at the sharp tone, never having heard it directed at him before. Plenty of times has listened to Noctis angrily yell about his father’s position and how he hated to watch him suffer. His frustration with Gladio’s sometimes cruel lessons, or when he was overwhelmed with Royal obligations. Never had he been the one to inflict his wrath personally.

“Noctis, I didn’t mean to-” 

“Get out!!” Noctis shouts, pushing his palm to Ignis shoulder as he forces him out of the room, slamming the door shut in front of him. 

The door shuts Ignis out, but he can still hear him calling his name and asking him to open up again. Noctis feels sick, Ignis’ face had said it all when he touched his belly. In that one small action it opened up the deep hole of Noctis’ fears even more and made it so much harder to pretend that movement wasn’t happening when someone else had so clearly felt it.

He buries himself under the covers of his bed, ignoring the continued sound of Ignis concerned begging until it finally stops. He tries to take deep breaths to calm his beating heart, but it feels like the walls are crashing down on him. Everything is too real, too scary, and too unknown for Noctis not to feel like everything is falling apart right now. He doesn’t know what to do. What can he do? It’s too late now to try and stop whatever is happening to his body. It’s too late now to try and ask his friends for help. He’s trapped. And it’s all his fault.

He remains still and motionless in bed, just focusing on his breathing and trying to block out any trail of thought his head tries to force him down. He’s not even sure if he’s fallen asleep or just lying in a daze, but it feels like hours have passed without him moving. Even as it feels like claws are digging into the flesh on his back and there’s a deafening ringing in his ears, he lies still. Let’s his mind empty and refuses to acknowledge anything that’s happening, whether its real or not. 

Maybe if he tries hard enough this will all just become some horrible dream. A nightmare.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... am so sorry for how long this took. I never meant for this fic to take so long to finish, but I just let it happen. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for my long absence, and know that there is only one more chapter left now! We're almost finished!

The door creaks open as Prompto slips in quickly, shutting it behind him. Ignis is sitting on his bunk with his chin resting solemnly on his hands while Gladio stands against the wall, arms crossed and staring off into the distance vacantly. He only calls to attention when Prompto hurries into the room to look between the two of them.

“So… what happened? Did you talk?” Prompto asks, sensing already that something bad happened between them, he just doesn’t know what. There’s a heavy silence before Ignis starts to speak.

“…We did. I can’t say it helped much, in fact I may have just made the situation worse” Ignis sighs deeply, shoulders sagging even further down.

“What? How? What happened?” Prompto questions hurriedly. 

“I… did something I shouldn’t have. It was an accident, but I fear it has only made Noct more fearful of us, or of me. I doubt he will allow me to be alone with him again anytime soon” Ignis sighs, his hand slides under his glasses to rub at his scarred eyes.

“W-what? What do you mean?” Prompto jerks, what could he have done that was so bad that Noctis didn’t even want to be in the same room as him?

“The hell did you even do to the kid” Gladio sighs as well, walking away from his spot to sit heavily on his own bed. 

“…Prompto was right. I felt something move inside of his stomach. He is… more misshapen than I thought” Ignis’ mouth pulls into a tight line.

“You touched it?! How the hell did you touch it?!” Prompto jumps, he couldn’t get close enough to Noctis to even see the movement until he was dead asleep, and somehow Ignis managed to get his hands on the Prince while he was awake? Even Gladio frowns at the news, leaning forward to listen closely.

“As I said, it was an accident. I only wished to comfort him, but with my sight… I misplaced my hand. He was more than upset with me…” Ignis’ face only grows more frustrated, clearly regretting something he felt was avoidable. He feared that the gap between Noctis and them had grown exponentially worse.

“…So, what do we do now?” 

“I think the only thing we can do for him now is to give him so time alone. Stay here with us, Prompto. When he’s had some time to cool off you can go see how he’s doing. He’ll probably be happier to see you than either Gladio or I right now.”

“…Alright” Prompto nods. He doesn’t like the idea of leaving Noctis alone for so long, not like this, but there’s little he can do to argue against it.

\--

“H-hah! Mnh-” Noctis presses his face into the pillow once more, muffling the sounds of his groans as much as he can. The pain only seems to get worse and worse by the second, wringing his body tighter as it makes his stomach clench and his back spasm before it finally fades away. His body sags as the pain disappears, leaving him panting and weeping as he rolls onto his back.

The pains had started not long after Ignis had left and had only seemed to get worse with each one he felt. They would creep into his hips, slowly starting with a dull ache that would quickly grow into a pain that he could feel tugging the very muscle from his bones. All he could do was cry and muffle his screams into his pillow, hoping that the pains would stop soon. 

The pains seemed to space themselves out at least, gripping his body tightly for long seconds that felt like an eternity before leaving him to recover for another ten minutes or so, or at least that’s how it had been at first. It seemed the gaps between them grew shorter with every one he felt, and the time he was allowed to rest between them stopped being enough to try and calm his eager breathes. There was no hope for him to get any sleep now, even as the night grew darker and the hours ticked by. 

Worst of all was how silent and lonely the train carriage felt. The tiny room felt infinitely larger without anyone else in it and Noctis could only glance across at Prompto’s empty bed and wonder where he was and when he would come back. At first, he was grateful for the solitude, happy to suffer alone in the room if it meant he didn’t have to hide the pain. It gave him the freedom to writhe against the sheets, moan in pain, clench his jaw, let the tears roll down his cheeks, and more as he suffered through the pain without fear of panicking the others, but now he wished for their company. 

He wished for someone to be there to hold his hand, to tell him it would be okay. With every pain he felt rattle through his hips his heart raced in fear as phantom claws dug into the soft skin of his thighs. With every cramp that made his heavy stomach clench he could feel the memory of something forcing its way impossibly deep inside him, and it only made him sob harder, trying to forget the daemons that haunted him. And he so desperately wished to be saved this time.

The door slides open and Noctis watched as Prompto creeped into the room, sliding the door shut again as gently as possible before turning and practically leaping into the ceiling when he saw Noctis staring straight at him.

“N-Noct! You’re awake…” Prompto grins awkwardly, its clear he had hoped to sneak into their room unnoticed again and failed. Again.

“W-where were you?” Noctis wheezes, voice already tight with strain, which immediately draws Prompto’s attention.

“Noct? You don’t look so good, you okay?” he says softly, coming to kneel by the bed as a hand moves to press against Noctis’ sweaty forehead.

Noctis’ mouth opens to speak, but the only noise that makes it out is a pained gasp as his jaw snaps shut and his face crumples, body pulling in tightly as a pain so strong yanks at his organs. He shakes and groans more, limbs pulling into his chest as he tries to gasp in a breath between moans. 

“Noct!? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?!” Prompto panics, brows furrowed and hand gripping tightly to Noctis’, which only receives back a strong grip as Noctis feels the last of the pain surge through him before beginning to dull.

“Hah… f-fine, ‘m fine” Noctis clearly lies.

“Bullshit you’re fine! Noctis, what the hell was that?” Prompto hisses at him, worry and fear and anger all swirled together on his face into a confused expression.

“…Stomach hurts… keeps hurting” Noctis sighs out between laboured breathes, body unwinding again to relax for the moments he has before the next pain hits.

“…I’m getting Ignis, he’ll know what to do” Prompto says, already standing and turning towards the door.

“W-wait! Don’t-” Noctis hurries to speak, his hand reaches out to catch Prompto’s arm, but he misses narrowly and within seconds Prompto is already pulling the door open again, “-go…”

The door shuts on his back and Noctis slowly lowers his hand back to his side, reclining back on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. Once again, he was alone. He tries to focus on keeping his breathes even and calm, but instead he feels a strange pop between his thighs and a sudden wetness soaking into mattress. He struggles to push himself onto his elbows, tugging the thin blanket off of him to find his pants, sheets and mattress are soaked through with a spreading wet patch. The panic only rises in his chest more at the sight of the strange fluid suddenly leaking from him. A sharp pain quickly follows, making his whole-body flinch with tension as he groans with the pain. 

His fingers bury into the blanket, tugging fiercely at the weave until it feels like his fingers will rip right through the fabric. It’s not until the pain passes again that he can take in a long, shuddering breath. Even through the pain, the discomfort of lying on soiled sheets is enough to drive Noctis to move, and the fear that something worse may follow after the fluids drives him to drag himself upright, swinging his legs off the bed to rest on the floor.

It takes a solid effort to heave his unbalanced weight off the mattress and into a standing position, but he succeeds eventually. His hands work to support the weight of his stomach pulling on his spine and also bracing him against the few pieces of furniture as he hobbles towards the miniscule bathroom. 

Only halfway between the bed and the bathroom another pain surges and nearly knocks Noctis to his feet, he only manages to remain upright by quickly grasping for a nearby chair. He holds tight as his knees bend and he moans lowly, feeling the pains growing much worse and pulling at him even more in his upright position. A solid thump against his pelvis is enough to make him nearly collapse into the seat as a completely new pain hits him.

It feels as though someone had just dropped a weight into his hips, and it sat low and hard right at the junction between his hips and thighs. If walking was difficult before, it seemed impossible now with the object intruding on his body like it was. When the cramping left his belly alone he took several long breaths before steering himself toward the bathroom again, hobbling all the more with the newfound weight making his steps slow and awkward. 

He stumbled into the bathroom, gasping and wincing at the near continuous ache that rested in his hips. Noctis succeeds in a few more steps to the shower stall before another pain catches him by surprise, bringing him and the dingy shower curtain crashing onto the floor. He can barely move where he kneels on the ground, body shaking and frozen in pain until it finally stops. When he can move again he drags himself forward, crawling into the shower and falling back against the cold tiled wall and letting heavy breathes fall from his lips.

His belly weighs on him, pressing onto his hips and back like bowling ball forced into his stomach. He can feel the damp patch on his pants stick to his skin as he shifts against the cool tiles awkwardly, it still feels like he’s leaking a little too, a few more trickles of whatever it was slipping out every time he shifts his hips. He doesn’t want to look, doesn’t want to do anything but sleep. The night had already been so long, and he just wanted the pain to stop so he could forget this ever happened, but the pains persist, surging through his body in somehow fresh, excruciating waves.

The pressure from before returns as well, sitting against his pelvis like something is grinding into the bone. It presses down and down harder, not yielding this time as it grows worse with every second. He suddenly feels himself opening up and his back slams against the wall as he tries to physically separate himself from the feeling of his hole being forced open by something inside him. It presses down further but is quickly stopped by the seat of his pants blocking it’s escape. He can feel it bulge out against the fabric as it halts in its movement, not providing him any relief as the burn of the stretch is still there and with whatever it was lodged in his pelvis he’s even more immobilized than before.

“Noct?” Prompto’s voice is distant in the other room and Noctis’ hands automatically clap over his mouth to muffle the scream that threatens to escape. 

“He’s not here? Where is he?” He hears Gladio asking gruffly, the sounds of footsteps and shuffling echo in the next room.

“The bed’s wet… Noctis?” Prompto’s voice calls again, moving closer to the bathroom as he speaks.

Noctis knows that he should just call out to them, to ask them to help him like he knows he needs them to. He’s only making his suffering worse by trying to hide himself from his friends, but he can’t bare the thought of them seeing him like this. Seeing him sprawled out on the bathroom floor crying in pain.

There’s no way he could beg for them to help him now, he’d been so terrible to them over the past weeks that he couldn’t imagine them wanting to help him now. He didn’t deserve it. This was all his own fault. He’d refused their concerns, their fears, their constant attempts at helping him or getting him to talk. He’d pushed them all away, harshly and cruelly, and now he needed them to help him but there’s no way he could face them. No way he could bare them looking at his pathetic form as he quivered in fear and pain. 

In his desperate panic to think of something he could do he was distracted enough that when the next pain hit he wasn’t ready to stifle the noise and a pained scream tore through his throat as he doubled over his swollen belly. 

The footsteps picked up hard and heavy but were unheard as Noctis screamed and sobbed openly. Prompto, Gladio and Ignis stumbled into the room instantly, worry creasing their faces as their eyes searched the room until they fell upon the folded-up form of the prince on the shower floor. 

“Noct?!” Prompto yelled as he scrambled forward to kneel beside him, Gladio just steps behind him as he sat on his other side.

Noctis sobs through the last of the pain, barely able to acknowledge the presence of his friends surrounding him and calling his name as he yells and cries until the pain stops. He sags forward, tears and snot and drool leaking down his face as he breathes desperately.

“What’s happening?!” Ignis asks, voice tight and worried as he stands back in frozen panic. 

“He- he’s in pain! Iggy, how do we help him?!” Prompto yelps, gripping at Noctis’ hand and pressing his hand to his back.

“What’s happening, where is he hurt?” Ignis asks worriedly, stepping forward a few steps before kneeling down to the ground slowly. He may not be able to see, but he can’t stand to just wait idly beside as his Prince suffers.

“I- I don’t know, he said his stomach before!?” Prompto says, gripping tighter at Noctis hand as he leans forward to yell again, muscles twitching and contracting with the pain.

“P-please… please….” Noctis gasps faintly, body swaying as he moans through the pain, begging for something but he’s not even sure he knows what it is.

“Wait, look… There’s something… in his pants?” Gladio says, eyes glaring down between Noctis’ spread thighs. 

Prompto has to lean over to inspect the area obscured by Noctis’ stomach, but the view is unmistakable. There’s a clear bulge at the junction of his soaked pants, whatever it is pulls the fabric tight where it sits.

“N-no” Noctis wheezes, “st’p…” 

His hands shake as one of them comes to grip at Gladio’s shoulder desperately. 

“You’re right…” Prompto gasps disbelievingly, “What… do we do?” 

“…I guess we remove them?” Gladio suggests sheepishly, he doesn’t know what it could be, but clearly it’s the cause of Noctis’ suffering. Removing it must be the solution, and they can only do that with the pants gone.

“St- op! nno- n-” Noctis chokes, hands gripping even tighter at Prompto and Gladio. He doesn’t want this, he doesn’t want any of this to be happening to him, least of all for his friends to see him in this state.

Gladio doesn’t seem to hear his pleads, or at least if he does he ignore them. His hands come up to quickly unfasten his pants and yank them down his thighs in one swift movement. Suddenly, Noctis feels the object that was lodged in his hips free itself, quickly sliding out of him onto the floor in one wet squelch. He yells at it slides through him, fresh tears flooding his face with embarrassment and pain. He can hear the shocked and disgusted gasps of Gladio and Prompto as the thing hits the floor wetly. He can’t even bare to open his clenched eyes to look at it.

“Oh gods…” Prompto gasps, eyes locked on the spindly looking creature that lay on the floor in a pile of stringy fluids tinged with blood. 

“What the hell is that?!” Gladio hisses, flinching back from the sight terribly.

“I- I think it’s a… a voretooth?” Prompto winces at the sight at the gangly creature, taking in the small spines protruding down its back and the tell-tale length of its snout and whip-like tail making it appear as none other than the creatures that lurked in the forests of Insomnia. 

“How the hell… did a voretooth just come out of him?” 

“I- I don’t…” 

Noctis can’t take it anymore, he didn’t want to know what was inside him. Didn’t want them to know either. He could feel hot shame welling up in his chest at the thought of how he looked to them right now, what they would think of him. The Prince, now King, of Lucis just gave birth to a fucking voretooth. There’s no way they could look at him again with respect knowing what this meant. Knowing that they could see his shame and they would know what was done to him. What he had done to himself.

Worst of all the pains didn’t stop when the creature forced its way out of him. They continued on in full force, making Noctis gasp and moan through them even as his friends panicked over the new life sprawled on the floor between them. Then the same pressure was building in his hips again, stomach pressing down hard until he could feel another one forcing its way through him just as the first. 

“That- that can’t be possible…” Ignis gasps, “You’re completely sure?”

“I- I mean, I’m no zoologist, but I think we’ve fought enough voretooths to know what they look like.”

Ignis can’t believe it, or more he doesn’t want to believe it. He doesn’t want to believe that he failed his prince so badly that he left him alone to the point where he hadn’t known he was… well, pregnant. And not with anything human. He had been negligent, and this was the outcome. He had to listen to Noctis’ screams and he could do nothing to help him because he hadn’t tried harder to protect him in the first place. He wasn’t there when he needed him the most.

Noctis can only feel the stretching getting worse, even as he tries desperately to clench on the intruding creature to halt its descent. He doesn’t want this. He doesn’t want any of this. He cries out another sob, choking out mumbled pleas of “no” and “stop” begging this to just be another terrible nightmare he’ll wake up from soon. 

Prompto leans over again, bravely taking another look at Noctis’ exposed body and quickly ascertaining that another voretooth was making an appearance from between his best friend’s thighs. He sits up stiffly, staring at Gladio with eyes wide with panic and fear.

“T-there’s another one…”

“Six, you’re joking” Gladio hisses, quickly stooping to catch a glance before cursing under his breath. There was no mistaking it when he saw the protruding snout of the creature piercing its way through the prince. Whatever questions Gladio had, and there were lots of them, they would have to be put on hold until Noctis was safe again.

“It’s coming out again, Ignis, what do we do?” Gladio says, steeling himself so that the fear in his throat doesn’t creep into his words. There wasn’t exactly a training session for a ‘what to do when the Price is giving birth to monster babies on the bathroom floor’ scenario, so he felt a little unprepared to say the least. 

“I- I’m not sure, I don’t know how to deliver a…” Not a baby, he can’t say that, not when there’s apparently a newborn beast lying on the floor, “…anything like that.”

“I don’t know if we have to do anything, looks like it’s coming out all on its own!” Gladio hisses, reeling back from the sight of the creature moving down more despite Noctis’ efforts to stop it. 

He sobs hard at the pain, only made worse by his clenching around the voretooth’s crowning head. Their voices are starting to sound muffled and distant, like his ears are full of cotton or he’s floating far, far away from them. The sharp pain in his hips picks up and the voretooth pushes out more, almost feeling like it was tearing him in half. A sensation he was all too familiar with. It made his chest tight and his breaths come in fast just having that sensation dawn on him again. He couldn’t open his eyes, refused to in fear of seeing the beast that he’d birthed. Fearful of seeing the beasts that put it there in the first place.

Their voices grew even more distant until it sounded like crowds of people in the distance, cheering and screaming and chanting. Staring down at him all over again as he was laid out naked and screaming before them. As he was torn apart. His breathing came in so fast he couldn’t get any air into his lungs before he was wheezing it out of his mouth and back in. Hyperventilating fast and hard as pain wracked his whole being and daemons tore into his mind and flesh once more. 

“Wait, Noct? Noctis?” Prompto interrupts Gladio and Ignis’ concerned discussion to look at Noctis. He can hear how his breath wheezes in too fast and too short to be doing anything. His eyes are squeezed shut and he’s pressed himself against the wall so hard that he can see his muscles straining as his feet and hands push against the ground to force him back as he wheezes.

“What’s wrong, Noct?” Gladio asks, earning a disdainful scoff from Ignis.

“I can think of at least a hundred things that are wrong right now.”

“Do you have to argue? Now, really?” Prompto bites out angrily, he’d asked for their help for Noctis’ sake, not so they could have another argument about who knew what was best for him. “Noct, can you hear me?” Prompto tries again, returning his attention back to Noctis. He brings his hands up to try brush his sweaty bangs from his eyes, but the second his fingertips touch his skin Noctis flinches back hard enough to slam his head against the tiles.

Gladio winces at the sight, but Noctis only tries to scramble back into the wall further, eyes suddenly wide open and glancing back and forth frantically. It doesn’t take long for the pieces to click together for Prompto to realise that he was having another attack. 

“Noctis! Noct, it’s okay it’s just us! We’re trying to help you!” he calls out hurriedly, shuffling back some to give him the space. 

Noctis is vaguely aware of voices around him, but he can’t discern anything their saying. From the pain the sears through his muscles and bones he can only guess they mean him harm. The tone of Ardyn’s voice rings in his ears, sounding like the snarl of a hungry beast. He throws himself back more, arms flying out to shove away the beasts that surround him, hitting solid mass as he swings frantically around him.

Gladio takes a hit to the face and takes it as a sign to move back as well and to not make contact with him. Prompto is still trying to call out his name, even considered taking hold of his hand again and hoping it would bring him some clarity, but with the way he fought them back so violently he doubted there would be any reason to try touch him again. He was wailing something awful as he continued to fight and shove himself back against the wall again and again like a trapped beast. 

“Ignis, help us!” Gladio yelled at him angrily, warding off another attack from Noctis in his panicked state. 

Ignis felt frozen. He could only gauge how poorly Noctis was reacting from the sound of distress in his voice and Prompto and Gladio’s responses to him. It wasn’t much to go by, but it was enough to know that he was in a bad shape. He felt like he had failed him even more so now than he had through this whole experience. Here he was, finally right before him in a moment of terror and pain and yet he could do nothing to help, nothing to soothe his pain or calm his fear. He felt numb. Useless. Helpless.

“Ignis!!” Gladio yells again, angrier this time, but it’s enough to snap him out of his self-depreciating daze.

He shuffles forward on his knees more until he feels them bump against the edge of the shower floor. He takes a deep breath before he calls out to his prince.

“Noctis” he says simply, and to his surprise hears his wailing stop with a sudden hitch of his breath, “Noctis, it’s me, I’m here.”

“I-Ignis” Noctis sobs, hands slowly stopping their attacks, “Ig- Iggy, he-lp” he whines out long and low and it tugs at everyone’s heart to hear him sound so broken.

“Noct” Ignis cries, chewing on his bottom lip as he thrusts his hand in front of him suddenly. He doesn’t expect anything to come of it, but he hopes it will show him he’s not alone at least. Instead he feels what can only be Noctis’ clammy hands grip his tightly and squeeze.

“Ignis!” Noctis’ sobs loudly again, voice catching on every syllable as he cries “H-help me-” 

“I’m right here, Noctis. We’re right here, and we’re going to help you!” Ignis cries out, tears are filling his damaged eyes and spilling over his lids. 

“It- it hurts! P-please… don’t let them h-hurt me!” Noctis weeps, clinging to Ignis’ hand desperately. 

“They won’t hurt you, no one wants to hurt you, Noct. Gladio and Prompto are here to help you, please don’t be afraid of them.”

“G-gladio? Prom?” Noctis says like they aren’t in the room sitting right next to him.

“We’re here, Noct, we want to help” Prompto says tightly, bottom lip quivering as he tries to keep his emotions in check. 

“Please! AHhh!! Make it s-stop!” Noctis sobs, head tilting back as he can’t stop the voretooth from pushing out of him further. 

Its head slides out and onto the floor leaving him gasping and shaking. He can’t keep holding back anymore, the pain growing too unbearable to try and stop his body from reacting the way it needs to. He tugs at Ignis’ hand more, pulling it into his chest as he struggles through the pain. 

“The head’s out!” Gladio says suddenly, and no one needs to look to believe him. Its long snout can be clearly seen from between his legs, resting right next to the other one. 

Noctis screams again, partly from the pain as the spikes of the voretooth start to press against his hole and partly because of gladio announcing the arrival of the head. They’re looking at him, all of them are looking at him and he can’t stop them. He doesn’t have the strength to. 

“I-Ignis! Please! St-top!!” He begs, desperate to get them to stop this overwhelming feeling surrounding him. Like he’s drowning in their gaze.

“Noct, please, listen to me. You have to let us help you, don’t push us away this time. Let us help” Ignis pleads to Noctis, squeezing his hand gently.

Noctis’ eyes finally drag up to look at the man in front of him for the first time. Unseeing eyes meeting his frightened ones. It’s finally starting to clear away some of the terror, making the monsters shrink back until he can clearly see the people around him. Until he can remember that he’s surrounded by friends.

Noctis nods his head slowly, whimpers escaping him as yields to his friends’ request. His body sags against the wall as he finally allows his muscles to relax somewhat, which leads the voretooth to slide out even further onto the floor.

Ignis can feel his grip relax on his hand and hear his breath start to come in a little deeper now, “Good, that’s good, Noct. Now we can help you get the rest of them out, so you need to push to help them move out faster.”

“C-can’t” Noctis shakes his head, like an upset child “I can’t…” 

“You can, Noctis, you can do anything. We’re right here with you, aren’t we?” Ignis prompts, hoping the others catch only.

“That’s right! We’re here for you, Noct. Go on and push those nasty voretooths out!” Prompto says trying his hardest to be encouraging, but maybe putting in a little too much enthusiasm to cover his absolute panic for what to do in this situation. Ignis tilts a frown in his direction to tell him he thinks exactly that.

“I know it ain’t easy, kid, but no one is gunna judge you right now. Do what you gotta do to make the pain stop, okay?” Gladio says, surprisingly gentle and considerate considering the way he’s treated Noctis over the past weeks. Maybe it had finally dawned on him how much the Prince had truly been hiding from them to try and appear tougher and more in control. Maybe he’d finally realised that this wasn’t something that they could go through without each other’s support.

Noctis hiccups, but allows himself another small nod after a few moments, resigning himself to another humiliating night of pain and torture. He tries to breath deeply before another pain squeezes his hips, and this time instead of allowing his muscles to tense up he uses the pain to push forward, bearing down on the obstructing creature inside him. It slides forward several more inches and he can feel each of its spiky spines bumping against him as he pushes, seeming to scrap at his insides painfully as it moves.

As soon as the pain passes, and he stops pushing he breaks down in another fit of sobs, lip quivering as his mouth turns into an even sadder frown. 

“C’n’t! It hurts!” he cries again, shaking his head and tugging at Ignis hand desperately like he could fix the problem somehow.

“Breath through it, you can do this” Ignis reassures firmly, he brings his other hand to clasp on top of his and Noctis’ already clasped hands. 

Noctis’ hips buck at the next sudden pain, voice warbling high and loud, echoing even more in the cold bathroom. He pushes again despite the pain making him want to do anything else and strains hard as he feels the beast moving down more and more until it slides out of him onto the floor beside the first. He gasps for air, eyes squeezed shut again and refusing to look at the bloody sight he knows is waiting in front of him. Instead he chooses to simply grit his teeth and wait until the next pain comes, bringing with it the awfully familiar feeling of another head pressing down onto his hips, or at least what he thought was a head.

A sharp and different pain hits him, feeling like it’s tearing through his skin and shredding him to pieces. He screams out in response, hand gripping tighter at Ignis while his free one scrambles furiously against Gladio’s chest trying to grab hold of anything to ground him. It’s not the same. Somethings different this time, it hurts more and feels horribly wrong.

“What the heck is that?!” Prompto squeaks too suddenly before he can clap his hand over his mouth at the disapproving looks both Gladio and Ignis shoot him.

Noctis’ flinches instantly, eyes blown wide as they flicker between everyone, unsure if he even wants the explanation or not. Gladio is leaning over again when he looks at him, brows furrowed as he coldly inspects him. Noctis’ knees want to draw in to block his view, but he can barely move them as it is, and there’d be no point in trying to hinder him now. He’s already seen enough.

“Oh, six… I think it’s coming out backwards” Gladio mumbles flatly, staring at the clawed feet and hips of the voretooth protrude out from Noctis. 

Ignis and Prompto say nothing, but their faces say everything. 

“Wha- what do I d-do?” Noctis voice wobbles as he looks to Gladio with pleading eyes. He shuffles himself over a little, closer to Ignis, so he has a clearer view of the creature being born.

“It’s going to be okay, we’re just gunna take this slow now, yeah? So, this time when you start pushing we’re only going to push a little bit at a time, ready?” Gladio says as calmly as he can manage, giving Noctis a firm look before he nods again in response. “Good, here we go.”

Noctis’ face scrunches as he pushes, trying to take it slower and only pushing a little at a time, but it hurts so bad he can’t help himself when he tries to force it out faster to make the pain stop. Gladio can see as the spikes on the voretooth snag and catch on his skin as he pushes, only making his suffering worse as he struggles to get the narrow creature out of him. He gently leans forward and uses his finger to help free the sharp spines as Noctis’ pushes carefully. He can hear Noctis’ hiss every time he helps ease one through, skin already red and swollen from the first two beasts tearing through him. And now the third was doing an even better job on its own.

“That’s it, halfway. Gentle pushes now” Gladio continues to encourage, and Ignis and Prompto have to admit they hadn’t thought he would be the one to take charge here, but he was proving himself a reliable source of support for Noctis right now, and that’s what they needed the most. 

Noctis struggles again, feeling the girth of the beast growing as the shoulders present backwards. They’re sharp and angular and seem to catch on the inside of his rim before being forced out in one excruciating push. He falls back panting again, fresh tears running new streams down his face where the old ones had dried. 

It’s not long until Gladio is patting his knee and encouraging him to start pushing again. He keeps it going, short but deep breaths as he pushes inch by inch out of him. He has to stop suddenly, voice being ripped from his throat as he feels what could only be the head catch inside him, lodging itself firmly with it’s spiky face. Even the slightest amount of pushing only makes the ripping sensation even worse inside him, like it was trying to tear his hole open on its way out.

“Hold on, it’s stuck again. Let me just see if I can get it moving a little” Gladio says, mumbling quietly like he’s half talking to himself. 

Suddenly hands are on the voretooth hanging out of Noctis and he can feel the most horrible twisting feeling as Gladio tries to position the creature differently. His head throws back and an agonizing wail that has Prompto gripping his arm and swiping at his forehead continues on for several long seconds as Gladio continues to work beneath him. Sharp quick stabs of pain shoot through him with every twist and jerk to the creature stuck inside him until he hears a final frantic “Push!” that makes him bare down with everything he has, teeth gritted and screaming as he pushes as hard as he can. The tearing feels worse and worse and worse until suddenly it’s gone, and the beast is out. Gladio drops it onto the floor with the others unceremoniously, not caring for the creature’s wellbeing, but content to see Noctis is for the most part okay.

“You did it, you did it, Noct. Well done” Gladio grins a little, but the sentiment doesn’t catch on. Noctis is too busy gasping and sweating, trying to remain conscious through the overwhelming pain he feels everywhere. He doesn’t know when this will be over, but he wants it soon. He wants this nightmare finished.

It was all too soon that the cycle repeated itself again, sharp pains gripped him, and the pressure grew worse and worse until he had no choice but to start pushing again. Thankfully, this one was coming out the right way, head first and steadily pushed through Noctis’ abused hole until it joined it’s three siblings on the floor. Encouraging words were spoken to him in endless supply, gentle hands grasping his own and occasionally pushing back his hair from his face, but never touching more than that. He can hear them now, supporting him through this, even as another monstrosity pushes through him and onto the floor in a horrific mess, even as he collapses to the side, held up by Prompto’s arms so he doesn’t fall to the ground.

“You’re almost there, Noct, you’ve done so well. I think this must be the last one” Gladio says, sounding very sure of himself for the first time that night.

“You can tell?” Prompto asks warily, looking between Noctis’ exhausted form leaning against him and Gladio’s determined face. 

“It has to be, his stomachs not big enough for any more, and Voretooth’s usually only produce litters of 6 or so. This has to be the last” He nods to himself again, brows furrowed in concentration. 

Noctis’ barely has the energy to keep himself upright anymore, but he still pushes with all his might when Gladio prompts him to, groaning loud and hard until he can’t any longer. The only thing spurring him to keep pushing through the unbearable pain was Gladio’s continued reassurance that he was almost done, that it wouldn’t be long now, and the pain would all stop. So, he clenched down as hard as he could, screaming through grit teeth and pushing until his face was red and he felt like his head might explode. 

Then he felt the end of it pop out of him, hitting the ground wetly just like the others had and suddenly his body sagged in relief. He waited long seconds, fearing for another pain to shoot through him, letting him know his suffering wasn’t over, but it never came. His muscles relaxed to the point where he couldn’t even lift his arms, simply folding into Prompto’s side and letting him carry his weight instead. 

“W-was that it? Is it over?” Ignis says nervously, voice tight like he’s trying not to cry despite the tears already on his face.

“Yeah, it is… Though I think that might be Noct’s line at the moment” Gladio sighs, leaning back on his heels now that the worst of the night was dealt with.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that…” Prompro says softly, eyes locked on the Prince’s face, eyes shut and breathing even. Passed out completely.

“Probably for the best. It’ll make this part easier” Gladio says, moving closer to Noct to take his weight from Prompto and shifting his limp body into his arms before heaving the both of them upright. Prompto was quick to follow, grabbing Ignis’ arm and leading him to stand before they all left the bathroom together.

“Put him on my bed, his was soaked” Prompto suggests, Watching as Gladio places him down gently on the bed. 

“Give him some potions for now, I’m gunna go take care of the leftovers” Gladio says with a scowl before turning back towards the bathroom.

“Y-you don’t mean-” Prompto says sadly before Gladio interrupts.

“We have to, we can’t just leave them there. Do you really want Noctis to find them when he wakes up? Think it’s safe to let a bunch of voretooths run around the train?” 

“N-no, I just didn’t think you’d do it now…” Prompto shrinks away, moving closer to Noctis as Gladio moves towards the bathroom.

“We haven’t much of a choice right now. It’s for the best” Ignis agrees solemnly. 

There’s nothing Prompto can say to that anymore, so he quietly allows Gladio to enter the bathroom again, thankful that he closes the door behind him, and not questioning any of the sounds he hears from behind the thin walls. Instead he chooses to sit by Noctis’ side and to look down at his weary face. He still looks like the kid Prompto had admired when they were just children. It pained him to see him so worn and tired. 

He still couldn’t believe how much of this Noctis had tried to cover up on his own. It seemed so obvious now that he knew the outcome, but before it had been baffling. There was no explanation he could think of for Noctis’ mysterious condition, and even though now he at least knew what his ‘condition’ was it was still baffling to him how the Prince of Lucis, the man he’d sworn to protect with his life, had ended up pregnant with a litter of voretooths. It didn’t make sense. At least not to him.

“Ignis… Do you know… how this happened? How Noct ended up… pregnant?” Prompto asks warily.

Ignis sighs deeply, shuffling his way to nearest piece of furniture to make himself comfortable on.

“I am… somewhat aware of the circumstances, yes. But I was told this in confidence, I would feel it would be wrong to divulge more of this to you without Noctis’ permission. It is his to share when he is ready.”

Ignis’ stern look leads Prompto to believe he’s either very firmly decided on the outcome of this conversation, or just the thought of it alone makes him upset. He doesn’t want to pry, but the events of the evening haven’t given him any respite, and he doubts there will be much sleep to come. This will keep him up for hours if he lets it.

“…Was it… that night, in Altissia. The one where we found him beaten in an alley. Right?”

“…Sadly, that is the only explanation.”

“Then… what happened to him that night… wasn’t just a fight…”

“Far from it, it would seem…” 

The silence builds between them heavily, like a thick cloud of smog breathing all the air out of the room and filling it with only suffocating dread. 

Prompto wasn’t dumb enough to not be able to piece together the story. He’d seen Noctis’ body that night, seen the dirt on his skin, the bite marks and lines of scratches dug into his flesh, the hollow look in his eyes. The way he flinched back at the slightest touch. Maybe he didn’t know how bad it truly was, to what extent his suffering had gone that night, but it was clear enough that someone meant to hurt him in the most horrible way possible. It made him sick to his stomach to think about. Even more sick when he remembers that this whole time Noctis was right here beside him, and he hadn’t known a single thing about it. 

The bathroom door opens and shuts quickly as Gladio returns. He sits down on the end of Noctis’ bunk, avoiding the wet patch as his body sags with exhaustion.

“Don’t use the bathroom, especially don’t let Noctis go in there. We’ll move him to our cabin later” Gladio frowns, bags under his eyes dark and just as bad as everyone else’s in the room.

Another suffocating silence fills the room until Gladio opens his mouth, only to be quickly cut off by Ignis.

“I will not explain the circumstances until Noctis is awake. He’s suffered enough at other people’s hands already. I will not be the one to expose him further, so you will just have to remain patient until then.”

“…Fine. But just know that whoever did this to him has an important meeting with my sword later.”

“Likewise,” Ignis nods. 

There would be no peace in the afterlife for the monsters who did this to Noctis. They’d make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thank you for reading! and poor Noct... what will happen to him now?


End file.
